


Journeys...

by KeJae



Category: Chuck (TV), White Collar
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-30
Updated: 2015-03-01
Packaged: 2018-02-27 09:59:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 53,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2688629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KeJae/pseuds/KeJae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of one shots telling the progression from when Neal first met the Burkes on up through their progressing relationships of coworkers, friends, and family.  The secret is that they met in an unexpected way much sooner than expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Of Carriage Rides and Tourists

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I was seventeen when I met them.

*******

It was Thursday… and the bell simply wouldn’t ring.

I repeatedly found myself glancing at the clock and wishing that the second hand would complete its rounds for the final round of the day. Unfortunately, it seemed as though time was standing still. It wasn’t, it just seemed to be traveling at such a slow rate because I expected it to progress so much faster than it really was. Since time progressed, my second theory was that time simply slowed down to a pace just above standing still when I wasn’t looking and then picked up the pace to a snails crawl when I was looking.

Around me, my classmates seemed to be indifferent to the lackadaisical progression of time. Their glazed expressions showed the reasons why. It was Thursday, and my unfortunate classmates had two more classes to go while my day was over as soon as the bell of dismissal rang. That was an advantage of being an advanced placement junior (currently stuck in required course studies)… we got to take periods out.

Since it was the final term of the second semester, I was getting a jump start on my summer job. With my early dismissal from school I was able to add a few hours onto my after school hours which opened doors to other possible jobs beyond simply flipping burgers at the local fast food joints. Instead, I chose a more romantic way to spend my time… driving those carriage tours through the old down town district and around the Arch.

The job could get messy cleaning up the waste bag that hung behind the horse, but the hours to simply enjoy the architecture of the city while showing the tourists from all over the country, and the occasional International visitor, the beauties of my home town was well worth the misery of a few minutes.

Finally! The monotone signal sounds that life can begin and I am off to see who I’ll meet today. Will they be travelers from the other side of the state, perhaps they will come from boring places like Nebraska, or maybe I’ll get lucky enough to meet a foreign exchange student. I had one of those last week, the foreign exchange student not the boring Nebraskan, and she was amazing to talk to. She was French and here to live with a family for a semester to work on her English. (She enjoyed my humor about how she should have tried England if she wanted to learn proper English). As I drove her around, she taught me some rudimentary French while I shared tips of how to avoid street slang in the local jargon. It was one of my most memorable rides (driving a beautiful young college girl was a bonus).

In a matter of moments I have navigated my way through the rushing under classmen and glided around the languishing seniors to reach my locker. A quick transfer of my needed books and assignments to my back pack finds me ready to go. In the parking lot, I quickly throw my pack into the back of my car and head for work.

Arriving at the stables I can see that the day is unusually busy for this time of year. Normally, the tourist season doesn’t pick up until mid-June so until then we only have a few carriages out to avoid having drivers waiting around for someone interested in a lift or tour. Today though, every carriage appears to be out except for mine. Continuing around the parking lot, I find a place in the shade and grab my work bag. I have just enough time to quickly change in the locker room before I am expected to be at the stable to pick up my horse and carriage.  

Luckily for me, I was able to make friends with the stable hand and he agreed to set up my ride until the end of the school year in order for me to be able to have a decent amount of time on the streets. In exchange, I am to do the occasional painting for him to give his girlfriend as gifts. She has a cultured taste for art, but as a college student he can’t afford to buy her the big names (“Yet” he always tells me). That’s where I come in. I am able to do my own original work of things she would like to see that don’t exist, or I can do copies of any original master she would like to see (of course I sign them in my own name to avoid legal entanglements and because it would be bad form for a future cop to forge).

Reaching the stable, Jim hands me the reigns and grins that he has another commission for me. With an interest I ask what he has in mind. “Oh, a silly picture of me sliding down the side of the Arch like a giant amusement ride. It would only be a simple sketch for my own amusement, so nothing more than an hour of your time, but I had a dream with an image like that and I can’t stop smiling about it.” Laughing at his quarky sense of humor I promise to have it for him within a day or two.

Heading out on to the streets I find myself bored for the first few hours. My passengers included a business man whose boss “encouraged” him to see the sites so he decided a quick touristy ride would pass muster, another was a tourist couple who simply sat in the back taking pictures without saying a single word, while yet another set was a duo who couldn’t be bothered with walking the distance from the parking garages up to the Arch. As I was beginning to lose hope for getting an interesting passenger, I got the couple who would change my life. Agent Peter Burke and his girlfriend Elizabeth Mitchell.

It was amusing how I picked them up.

Peter was bored with the city and tired of stumbling over the old cobble stones original to the area while Elizabeth was in love with the old architecture and the romantic notion of a horse and carriage ride with her boyfriend. Seeing Elizabeth’s eagerness to get a ride and being eager to look somewhere besides his feet, Peter decided to go along and pay the fee for me to take them for a ride. As we started out, I asked them where they would like me to take them. Elizabeth took the lead and answered that they wanted to see the Arch and the downtown district with its quaint tourist shops and old architecture. While I drove them along, Elizabeth began to ask me questions beyond the usual touristy nonsense. I highly enjoyed discussing the local culture, history, arts, and anything else she wanted to discuss and before I knew it they ranked right up with the French student that I had driven last week. What put them over the top was when Peter began to talk to me as well. When one of my stories involved an old police tale, Peter started to lead the conversation for a while. He and I talked about the local police force, their history, and general law enforcement. I was impressed to discover that he was an agent in the FBI with plans to make his way up to DC someday, so I took his words to heart.

Eventually they began asking questions about me. I told them that my name was Danny and I was a student at the local high school working until I could graduate and go to the academy. Peter was curious as to which academy I planned to apply at. When I told him the police academy he had some tips for me and asked why I wanted to be a cop. My reply was based on the stories that I had been told all of my life about my father. “Because my father was a cop who died a hero when I was two. I want what I do to have value, to help people, and being a cop is a good way to do that. There are other ways to help, but being a cop is a connection I can have in common with the father that I never knew… carrying on the family name as my father’s son if you will. In time, I hope to live up to his legacy.” Elizabeth asked what I would do if that particular plan didn’t work out, say… (heaven forbid), I was injured in the field and unable to serve, then what? “I am told that I am an art prodigy. If law enforcement doesn’t work out, I have art and other skills to fall back on.” We continued to have an enjoyable conversation for the rest of the ride. When I got back to their parking garage, it was time for a bittersweet goodbye.

I had meant the best father figure role model that I might ever have the luck to encounter and his girlfriend who had the air of the big sister that I never had or missed. It felt like I had known them for a life time and I wondered if I would ever have the fortune to meet them again.

As they disembarked from the carriage, they each had their own parting words. Peter told me that he hoped I would do well with the local police force and that if I ever wanted to join the FBI that I should look him up as they could always use a good man. His final pieces of advice was to avoid temptation and to always do the right thing and let the pieces fall where they may. Elizabeth said that she wished me the best and that no matter what my future might bring that she was sure I would be successful with my intelligence, kindness, skills, and charm to back me up. She also encouraged me to never forget the desire to help others, that I should keep that innocent desire to better those around me.

There was a couple waiting for the carriage as Peter and Elizabeth got out. Before relinquishing their time with me, Elizabeth decided to request that the next passengers take a quick picture of us together as a group. Agreeing to her request, I stepped down and they placed themselves one on either side of me. We smiled for the camera and Elizabeth checked to make sure she was satisfied with the picture. When Elizabeth was sure she had what she wanted, she and Peter said goodbye again before walking away.

My next passengers climbed up into the back while I got back up into my seat. Once they were settled and I had a direction, I couldn’t help but take one last look toward my prior passengers. Peter and Elizabeth waved one final time to me as they got into their vehicle and drove away. I nodded to them in acknowledgement and proceeded down the road.

Despite the brevity of our acquaintance, I knew it was an encounter that would stick with me for the rest of my life. Peter would always be my father figure role model guiding me down the right path while El would be the big sister’s guidance reminding why I need to keep my head on straight…

**********

For Peter and Elizabeth, it was a vacation that would always have fond memories and the vacation that set the stage for future events that they could never imagine.

Peter came away with the hope maybe someday the kid would be FBI and they could work together. He had enjoyed talking to the kid with his intelligence, creativity, and zest for justice and genuinely meant the request to look him up should Danny ever join the FBI. (The kid might possibly be the makings for the smartest person he had ever met).

Over time though, Danny faded until he was a fond memory when Peter happened to think of the Arch, St. Louis, carriage rides, or potentially promising young agents. In the back of his mind, the kid was his standard of the perfect partner…

Elizabeth came away from the day with the feeling that she had just met her long lost little brother. She couldn’t believe how similar they were with their dark hair, blue eyes, and love of the artistic elements of the world around them. And, for him to be so compatible with Peter was just another reason why she wished they had kept in touch. For a long time she found herself wondering what had become of the charming young man. Did he become a legendary cop, would she show case his art someday, or did he chose another of those skills that he hadn’t detailed?

Eventually, the kid became the Danny who encourage her to meet new people, the handsome young man in her St. Louis travel pictures (she took others when she was taking pictures of the city), and the missing piece of her life that she wished they could find again someday. She never thought that he would come into her life again in reality…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The usual disclaimer: I'm playing in this sandbox with other people's sand and the only credit that I can take is my particular sand creation. 
> 
> Also, I was in St. Louis, DC, and New York this past summer (the inspiration to write this story), but I didn't really try to stick to reality too much as I was simply passing through in a short period of time so anything that doesn't mesh is me taking creative alternatives.
> 
> Finally, another thanks to Quinis and my family for talking ideas through with me or listening to me yammer about the latest fan fictions I'm writing/reading.


	2. New Beginnings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I was eighteen when I met my first best friend.

*******

On my eighteenth birthday, Ellen told me the truth. She informed me that my father was actually a murderous, thieving, dirty cop from DC. I learned that my real name was Neal Bennett, that I was born in DC, and that I had grown up in Wit-sec.

I can still remember that feeling of disconnect when I realized that the people I had trusted most had betrayed me and lied to me from the very beginning. It was the most devastating feeling that I have ever experienced!

"Who was I, where should I go in life, what should I do, how should I be reacting to this, why did things have to go this way…?" The questions spun around in my head until I felt I was going to be sick. I wanted to run away and hide; to do something stupid to help me forget the pain that I was feeling…

Then words of advice started rolling through my mind. "Do what's right… no matter what… you'll be successful… let the pieces fall where they may…"

Taking a deep breath, my mind relaxed and I felt that maybe it would be okay. There were other directions for me to go in life and other people for me to aspire too.

Ellen was surprised when I appeared to calm down. She expected me to be emotional and to flip out about all of the lies that she had been telling me. Instead, I had a few moments of difficulty, then I looked at her and asked her what she thought of me choosing a different path.

For a moment she stared at me, then she slowly said "Alright… what path do you have in mind?"

"Well, there is the option of going to college… I did fill out the application to Stanford." Then I muttered. "I um, got the acceptance letter today."

"You were accepted? Congratulations Danny! …Neal. Um, what do you plan on studying?"

It was awkward as we decided which name she should call me by. "Neal is my real name isn't it?" My smirk was painful, even to me, but I tried to lighten the situation. "Anyway, I think I'll major in computers and minor in art and art history. Computers have a larger market for employment and they have both been my passions growing up. I think it will be good for me to step away from trying to be like… James, and instead discover who I am."

Ellen nodded. "Well, that sounds like a good plan. I think there is another detail that you should take into consideration… are you going to stay in Wit-sec or are you going to leave?"

Taken back, I realized what she was asking. Did I wish to discover the truth, or did I want to continue to live a lie… either way I could never simply come forward and tell others who I really am. "I think that is something that should be thought over and discussed with you and mom… I don't know if I could leave you two, but I also want to find out who I am on my own."

After several weeks of talking things through and discussing options with the Marshals, we decided to take a path down the middle.

I was eighteen, and still a high school student. It wasn't the time for me to go off on my own, yet. My first step towards independence was to be moved to a temporary Wit-sec arrangement with a new name and identity created with a fake family to transition me into a new life. The new life that I was to lead was to be that of Bryce Larkin "of the Connecticut Larkins."

It was two steps away from my family, and yet still in a Wit-sec identity. That way I could have some independence to discover the truth without bringing any danger too close to my family. Also, I would still be able to have some distant contact that would prevent me from losing everything… for the time being…

I spent most of the last semester of high school being the track star and aspiring engineer with the shy little sister who had the eyes of all of the boys. It wasn't what I would call an easy semester, but I must say that my "little sister" came out of her shell with some work. By the end of the year I was graduating, and she had a cluster of friends keeping her from retreating back into her shadows as well as two classes of boys who knew to treat her right… or else.

Once graduation was completed, I moved on to college. My packing included pictures of my fake family, my real family hidden behind, and the couple I met that day in St. Louis (this one was a product my artistic abilities). Beyond that was the usual nerd memorabilia, my art, and basic necessities. I had already left most of my belongings with my mom and Ellen since Bryce got all new belongings to go with his new life.

Although my time with the Larkins had been short, it was still like leaving my family again, but this time there would be fake family events for the holidays to come home to. After all, most college students still enjoy going home for the holidays in order to take a break from the work load and for a chance to reconnect with family.

Arriving at college, I found myself excited. Here, I wasn't the son of a dirty cop, no one looked at me like I was the kid who lost his dad all over again, and no one knew anything about me but my backstory and what I told them. It was the chance that I had been looking for, the opportunity to discover who I was when I was looking to achieve the best that I could be instead of looking to live up to false legacies.

For the first few weeks I went about my schedule. I learned where my classes were, who to talk to and who to avoid, how to interact best with my teachers, and the fastest routes to class when I needed to cut my time. Outside of classes, I trained in track, socialized in the quad, flirted with pretty girls, and got comfortable settling in to my new routine.

Then one day I met the next person to change my life, Chuck Bartowski.

I was bored and lounging around in the quad when a classmate asked if I wanted to throw a football around with him. Despite not being particularly interested in sports, I could throw a ball and it would be something to do. After I agreed to play, we walked out onto the grass and begin throwing various passes. It didn't take us too long to migrate out to a longer throwing range that put me closer to Chuck. One of the times I turned to throw the ball, I caught a glimpse of what book he was studying. Amused, I couldn't help but comment on his choice of classes and we started a conversation. It didn't take me long to signal my other classmate that I had found something else to do and I walked off with Chuck.

The next week the fraternities started recruiting and Chuck and I both made it into the same one. It took some work for us to ensure that we were set as roommates, but once the goal was achieved we were set for the rest of our college stay.

Over the years that we were there, we spent a great deal of time staying up late to play and program games, watched nerd movie marathons, spent time studying together, and simply talked a lot. I learned that his family had its problems and he had his own issues because of them, but he wasn't letting them get the better of him. As he put it, his father's mistakes were his own, so Chuck shouldn't spend time wondering about why his parents abandoned him. Instead, he should focus on what he was going to do and endeavor to do it. I was already following this path in a way, but his story encouraged me to put my feelings on my father's actions aside and go on with my life. He was the murderous, thieving, and dirty cop, not me… so why punish myself?

As I got to know Chuck, I learned he was innocent, honest, and he had integrity. He became the little brother in my life and there wasn't anything that I wouldn't do for him. Unfortunately, my opinion and my protectiveness of him eventually led me to do something that Chuck wouldn't forgive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A thanks to each of those who have read and shared their appreciation by following, adding to favorites, or leaving kudos. I enjoy knowing that readers like my work and appreciate it when you take the time to let me know what you think.
> 
> For those who may be new to reading my post, I will be posting each Sunday as this story is complete. A heads up, I do work two retail oriented jobs that are in full pre-Christmas swing so if I should miss a day, I'll post as soon as I can.


	3. Historical Re-acquaintances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When I was twenty, chance brought us together again.

*******

It was spring break of my sophomore year at Stanford. The campus had cleaned out with Chuck going home to his sister and the rest of the students either going home or abroad. Since I didn't want to be alone on campus and I needed some time to think, I decided to take off for the week. Ultimately I was headed "home" to my fake family up in Connecticut, but that didn't mean that I had to go straight there.

As I meandered my way a crossed the country, I decided to see DC before swinging up towards the coast. Driving into the city I passed an NSA employee exit followed by several NASA exits. My imagination was caught up in thinking about the people who were in the cars driving up and over my head. What were they like, what did they do, who were they, did they call home one day and say "Hey mom, I joined the NSA today," or did they disappear off into the world like so many busy people do anymore? Entering the main city, I decided it was better to start paying attention to where I was going instead of getting lost in my own head.

First, I meandered my way to the old neighborhood where I was born. Just because I had decided to put my feelings aside didn't mean that I didn't want to see the area that had changed my childhood so much. There was the precinct, the neighborhood, and the park that my family used to frequent. Nothing stuck with me as being special, so I didn't spend much time on my trip through my family's history.

Then I decided that since I was in the city anyway, I might as well go touristy and see the downtown monuments. Driving to the old downtown area I found a parking garage. With time to kill, I was ready to go up and start walking. Since I wasn't looking to go in a particular order, I simply started walking and figured that I would start with whatever I came upon first.

As I walked, I left my mind loose to wonder again. I had just revisited the places of my youth, but I needed to focus on where I was going to go. Chuck wanted us to start and run a computer technologies company where we would design, build, and sell whatever our imaginations could create. A part of me loved that idea… then a part of me still felt like something was missing. That was when I realized that I still actually wanted to be involved with law enforcement! Unfortunately, I shivered and was repelled by the very idea as soon as it struck. Ohh, what a troublesome predicament. Wanting something so bad that it felt like it was a part of my very soul, while also being completely repelled by that very something to a point of shivering with revulsion.

It quickly seemed that God was watching over me. How else can you explain what came next?

While I was lost in thought, I wasn't paying much attention to what was going on around me. Visually, I wasn't partially watching where I was going, but mostly just enough to stop and ensure safe crossing at street corners. Hearing, well the noise of a machine water blasting gum off of the sidewalks combined with the city to create quite a ruckus in that one perfect spot.

Why perfect? Because, that is the spot where I walked full tilt into someone while not realizing it until their purse was dumped all over the ground. I was completely embarrassed and began to profusely apologize to the unfortunate person caught in my path; that was until I looked up to see the two people helping me collect her belongings.

It was Peter and Elizabeth Burke! Judging by the rings on their fingers they had gotten married since the last time that I had seen them. Still, they weren't much different from my memories. Peter still stood in his khakis and a polo while Elizabeth was dressed more stylishly and showed her better taste in fashion.

At first, Peter and Elizabeth both scrambled with me to ensure Elizabeth's belongings were collected before they could be lost in the surge of those passing by. Then, once I had looked up and stopped talking, they seemed to stop as well. For a few moments we all simply stood on a random downtown corner in DC and stared at each other. It was like the back of their minds recognized me, but the message didn't seem to make it all the way to the front because they never made any comment of connecting who I was now with who I had been then.

After we got passed the awkwardness, we got to talking for a moment as we were asking each other where we were headed. I told them that I was Bryce and that I had decided to be touristy on my way home for spring break. Since I had driven all the way out from California, I was taking a break before taking the final stretch home. Peter was here for a conference and Elizabeth had tagged along to make a mini vacation out of it. They seemed to feel the connection to me, even though they didn't know why, so they invited me to take the tour with them.

We started on our way again, but this time I wasn't lost in my mind. I was lavishing in the opportunity to talk to them again. Since chance had thrown us together, I was going to take advantage and hoped to get that fatherly role model and big sisterly advice that might help me to figure out what to do.

Elizabeth and I carried on a DC version of our St Louis conversations. It was like we had known each other forever and time hadn't passed since the last time we had talked. The biggest difference that I felt was the change from being a naïve kid with plans to being the troubled young adult trying to decide on a direction. She seemed to sense the weight on my mind and she did want any great big sister would do… she encouraged me to be silly. We came up with comical stories behind the things that we didn't know the history behind, we created lives for the people that we passed, and we teased Peter like I was family. I loved it!

Peter took his own direction to help me deal with my trouble. He got me to talk about it like a case and solve it. Following his request, I decided to tell him.

"I always wanted to be a cop growing up." (He tried to hide it but he started at the similarity between me and myself).

Regaining his composure he prompted me with another question. "Why didn't you?"

I tried to be careless and shrug, but the effort gave my emotions away. "Because the reasons didn't pan out."

Elizabeth answered this time. (She sensed that I needed a more sensitive response than Peter could provide). "So you gave up on your dream? All because things 'didn't pan out?'"

Since she wanted more information, I went on to generalize that my mom had told me a story to hide the truth for as long as possible. Now that I knew the truth, I was repulsed by the idea of being a cop, but I felt like maybe law enforcement was somehow engrained into who I was because I still wanted it so badly.

Peter's response was that I should present the whole case and tell him what I was planning on doing.

I was relieved that they were willing to help me so I was willing to share as much as I could. "I chose another direction to decide who I am instead of how to follow a legacy of lies. I've been hoping that another opportunity to fulfill my dreams and avoid the bad taste of the past would come up… perhaps in time. Meanwhile…" I continued to explain that I had decided to go to college. There I had met a friend who taught me how to handle my emotions and encouraged me to follow the advice of someone I had once randomly met (Peter seemed to note the advice from the random person part). My studies came up so I told him that I was working on being an engineer in computers. He was interested in my plans to go into business with my roommate and impressed with my degrees that I was working on (MBA in Accounting and a Master in Engineering).

When I finished, Peter told me his own story. He had been a math geek through school and got a scholarship due to his academics. After college, he had been recruited by large accounting firms with the promise of big salaries, and all of the perks that come with such high profile positions. Peter also followed his dream by playing pro baseball until an injury changed his plans. Ultimately, he didn't chose the high profile accountant or his dream of baseball, but he instead chose to do the job that got the least credit while doing the most work for the people, he became an FBI agent. I had known about him being in the FBI, but it was interesting to get to know the story behind how he came to be in the FBI and what choices he had to face in getting there.

Once he had finished his story, we spent some time brainstorming and trying to come up with ideas as to what I could do in the law enforcement field while not feeling like I was too close to the situation with my father.

Eventually, Peter decided to randomly throw in "What about intelligence? I mean, you're good with computers and they work with computers. You want to be in law enforcement without the law enforcement, and their work can help to make our jobs easier. Besides, I think you're intelligent enough to be an intelligence officer." He finished with a smirk and an amused look in my direction.

Elizabeth piped in with, "Like the CIA?"

I couldn't help but laugh at the idea of being a secret agent traveling the world collecting data that would help other agents (like Peter) arrest the bad guys.

Settling down again, I thought about it a bit more seriously. "Hmm, I hadn't thought of that. After all, they keep information safe, help gather information to take down the bad guys… I don't know. I'll keep it in mind as a possibility."

We continued to treat the idea as humorous and made various 007 comparisons… but the more we talked about it, the more the idea seemed possible.

My college career was similar to being an undercover agent. I wasn't Bryce Larkin from Connecticut but really Neal Bennett from DC, and when I went to parties I could pretend to be goofing around when I was really experimenting with being different types of people. Living on campus I had few belongings and almost nothing to tie back to my life with my real family. When we had big tests I pulled all nighters studying information, put that information into the test, and then staked out the professor's office looking to see what my results were. That seemed similar to studying a target, setting a trap, and staking out a location in the hopes of catching a criminal. For fun, my roommate and I often played "Assassin" or "Gotcha," (the same game but two different names), which was a shootout game played with toy guns. Finally, Chuck functions as my partner. We work together, study together, help each other through problems, and sometime we just hangout because we are such good friends… exactly like Ellen always told me partners acted. Maybe being a cop was in me after all, only I wanted to be different from my father… perhaps the CIA could be a possible route for that.

Peter and Elizabeth could tell that they had given me food for thought and that the decision was now up to me to make. Instead of continuing to discuss it, it was time for us to move on to other subjects. We went back to discussing what we saw, but this time we were being more personal since Peter and I had shared some intimately personal information.

Eventually, the day began to draw to a close and we decided to go to dinner before going our separate ways. Since there wasn't anything in the area that looked appealing, we decided to go back to our cars and meet at an Italian restaurant that was only a little ways away.

As I walked, I couldn't help but smile to myself. It seemed that God was watching out for me and he had arranged for fate to put me into their path again. This morning I felt like I was taking the wrong path in life and something was missing. Now I felt like things were working out for the better and that when I was ready, the perfect opportunity would present itself. Who knows, maybe I would end up working for the CIA someday… Reaching my car, I pulled out of the parking garage and made my way over to the restaurant.

When I arrived, the place didn't look too busy so I hoped that I would be able to find the Burkes easy enough. It turned out that their vehicle had been closer so they were already seated in a corner booth. Elizabeth waived me down and I moved to sit a crossed from them.

Noticing the table, that had obviously been chosen by Peter, I was reminded of another reason why I already knew how to be an agent. The table had a good view of the entire restaurant so that nothing was hidden in the front area and we even had an ear to what was going on in the back. I could see every exit and had a clear escape route already mapped out to each of them as well. Ellen had taught me this skill just in case anyone from my families past ever came after me, but it was also a skill that was taught to agents. I looked at Peter and we had a silent conversation where I told him that I had noticed his choice of table and he told me that he was proud that I had noticed. Amused, we just smiled at each other and ordered our food.

Throughout the meal we shared the pictures that we had taken, talked about the food, and simply continued to talk like old friends with virtually any subject that came to mind being covered. Regretfully though, the evening reached a point of coming to an end.

As we were waiting for the bill, Peter decided to pose one last question. "When you said earlier that you were following a random person's advice, if you don't mind answering, what was that advice?"

On the surface I got a rather fond expression, but underneath I was laughing. Peter was fishing to connect the dots that had remained in the back of his mind all afternoon. Due to the Wit-sec entanglement I couldn't let him figure out that I was the same person, but I still wanted him to be trying to connect those dots. (An almost recognition was better than no recognition when full recognition couldn't be had). "Oh, I was once fortunate enough to run into a person like you (none specific as to which one of the Burkes I was referring too) who told me some advice that helped me through one of the toughest situations I have ever had to face. Basically, they told me to never forget who I am and that it would take me far in life. Also, I should always do what's right regardless of the consequences. My roommate Chuck has also been a big help on that. His family has had its issues and he is determined to be the man he was meant to be regardless of his father. He is the only friend that I have ever had that I can completely trust to do the right thing despite what others may think. With two role models like that, I think I have a pretty good base of people to follow."

Both Peter and Elizabeth had a flash of recognition when I alluded to their advice, but fortunately the bill came just in time. With the action of getting our things and leaving the restaurant they both seemed to forget what they had just about realized a few moments before.

Finally, we said our goodbyes again and each went our separate ways quietly hoping that God would work fate in coordination with chance to bring us together again.

*******

Bryce drove on up to Connecticut to spend some time with his fake family and make one of his rare communications back to his real family. When it was time to head back to college he enjoyed sharing the recap of DC with his best friend Chuck. As Chuck listened, Bryce wondered if he would ever be able to bring the Burkes and Chuck together in his life at the same time. If that could happen, he couldn't ask for anything more when it came down to his friends.

*******

Peter and Elizabeth fondly remembered another charming young man and joked that maybe he was Danny's look-a-like in the world. They had both noticed the similarity in the dark hair, blue eyes, and some various similarities in character and personality. However, they hadn't connected the dots enough to realize that the two young men were the same person. Still, Peter had once again extended the invitation to look him up in the FBI and maybe they could work together while Elizabeth enjoyed the feeling of having a younger brother again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to those who have followed, reviewed, or left kudos between the sites. I really do appreciate it when you take the time to share with me that you enjoy my work :D


	4. Testing Alliances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I was twenty-two when I got to work with Peter for the first time. (Each section alternates between Bryce's identities and Peter).

*******

Once again, things happened a year after I received the appropriate advice from Peter.

During my junior year I got the request to meet with my professor, Fleming. He called me into his office and gave me a form of confidentiality to ensure that I kept the contents of our conversation secret. Intrigued, I agreed and we began our discussion.

He told me that I had caught the attention of his superiors. I was noticed for academics, athletics, social skills, and was known to have had an interest in law enforcement. Combine my resume with having good looks and I was a highly desired candidate to be recruited.

We had several discussions about what I would be recruited for and several other details about what I would be walking into. After I had had time to think it over, we had one final meeting where I accepted the challenge. (I was 'intelligent enough to be an intelligence office after all').

Once I had accepted, things changed.

I began training in a new way. My skills went from being for defense to becoming a weapon, I went from being simply observant to keenly watchful, and I had a new purpose in life to help others in my own way.

The first direction that I was being prepared for was for a character named Neal Caffrey. He was to be a criminal that would create a connection into the underworld while also being a cover to hide… certain CIA involvement for various international situations. Since he was to be a legendary persona, I had a lot of work to do in order to be able to fulfill the role. I spent the first few years learning, then the bosses decided that I would need an FBI contact to chase me and make my role look real. Incidentally, this contact wouldn't be able to know that I was an undercover agent, but he would be able to get to know my character rather well.

When the bosses told me to pick an agent that I could trust, I only had one name come to mind. Peter Burke. It was decided that I could work with him as a consultant for one case under a false alias while hiding who I am. That is how Jayden Smith came to be hanging out in the elevator heading for the twenty first floor of the New York FBI office.

*******

Agent Peter Burke had stumbled upon a case that had reach far beyond his ken. He was annoyed to discover that the case was going to bring him into contact with the CIA, and they were sending their consultant over even as he was being notified of his impending arrival.

However, his annoyance cleared as soon as a dark haired, blue eyed person wearing glasses stepped off of the elevator. If this was his contact for the next few days, he may be about to meet his next dark haired, blue eyed friend. It didn't make sense really, but he had begun to connect people of those characteristics with two young men. Oh not all of them made the connection, but a rare and special few brought a feeling like he was working with… well, for lack of a better phrase, his fated best friend. Each of them was keenly intelligent, creative, had a zest for justice, was zealous to protect others, and was able to connect to both Peter and Elizabeth in a way that they never forgot despite having only a few hours of acquaintance at best.

While these thoughts were going through his mind, the man seemed to figure out what to do. He pushed through the doors and walked up to the first agent that he came a crossed and requested to be directed towards Agents Hughes and Burke. The agent promptly turned and pointed to Peter as being the nearest of the two while also directing up to the bosses office for Hughes. Taking this as his cue, Peter stepped forwards and introduced himself while shaking hands with one Agent Jayden Smith.

*******

Jayden smiled pleasantly as he shook hands with Peter. He was excited to be finally taking Peter up on his offer to look him up so that they could work together, and even more excited at the prospect of many more encounters to come.

After the introductions were completed, the agents got down to business with the FBI filling the CIA in on their discoveries while the CIA in turn filled the FBI in on their knowledge. When the process of updating each other to the point of being on the same page was completed, Peter and Jayden proceeded to set to work on solving the case. For the rest of the day the two could be seen as silhouettes pacing the conference room, probies came and went with information, and the two agents only left the room for the most basic of necessities. It was late that night before the two gave up and proceeded to call it a night. Peter went home to his wife for the remainder of the night while Jayden checked in with his superiors before settling in at his hotel.

The next morning the two met in the office and went back to work.

After a few hours Jayden decided that perhaps they should go back to the scene of the crime and see if they could get any new perspectives there. Once they arrive, the two begin to poke around to see what they may find upon further inspection. Jayden had his focus on the case as he was determined to do a good job in front of his long time role model. Agent Burke on the other hand found himself distracted as he discovered a mistake that could implement him as being involved in the corruption that was believed to be involved in the case.

When Jayden noticed the source of his companion's distraction, he couldn't help but sigh. "What are you going to do?"

Agent Burke was startled by the sudden voice beside him. "Turn it in as evidence and face whatever comes next. I am not corrupt, but a board will have to make their own decision and with this piece of evidence there is no saying what conclusion they may come too. I'm sorry for not pointing it out sooner, but I have spent the last few moments thinking through what all this is going to mean and I don't know if I am going to like it. Still…."

"… Do the right thing and let the pieces fall where they may?"

Peter jerked his head up in surprise to face Jayden. "You took the words right out of my mouth. Are you sure we haven't met before?"

"Perhaps you did a stint at Langley?" Jayden jests in response.

Snorting in humor, Peter can't help but reply. "No, no, I may not be too good at all of the cloak and dagger stuff, but I'm pretty sure I would remember a stint at Langley."

Jayden simply grins broadly while silently providing support for Agent Burke while he packs up the evidence that may unjustly seal his fate with the bureau.

They return to the office where Peter turns in the evidence and Agent Hughes orders him off of the case until he can be cleared to return to work. A temporary suspension is ordered and Peter has to leave the office with no service weapon or badge, but he is certain that he did the right thing.

Unbeknownst to everyone else, Agent Smith has put in a call to a contact. Someone who surfaced for the first time in over a decade in order to work with him for the simple reason of trust. When Jayden had gotten the older agent's son expelled to save his life, he had proved that he was willing to do whatever it took to ensure that things turned out the right way, and the mysterious man, known to most as Orion, had high value in a man like that. Orion agreed to look into the situation and get back to Jayden as soon as he had some information.

It was a long few days while the board looked into evidence, Jayden waited for Orion to get back to him, Peter paced at home, and so many agents held their breath in anticipation of what the outcome was going to be.

Finally, Orion returned Jayden's call to arrange a secret meeting. He had discovered a tape that showed another agent setting Peter up as a means of distracting the investigators from the original existence of corruption. Peter may not be the bad guy, but there was a bad apple somewhere in the office.

The board was given this video, the evidence was proven to be uncorrupted, and Peter's name was cleared.

Free to return to the investigation, Peter was grateful to his temporary partner for putting in the extra effort to clear his name.

"The pieces may be able to fall where they may, but I was able to ensure they fell along the lines of where they belonged. Don't thank me, you could say that it was a payment on my debt to a friend." No matter how much Peter wondered at the mysterious words, Jayden wouldn't clarify anything.

Following the trail of the video, a stake out was in order, and Peter and Jayden were the two nominated to be the bodies filling the van.

That night the two were settled in and stationed to watch an address where they believed the rogue agent was going to meet up with a criminal contact. Peter had his customary sports, crosswords, and deviled ham; while Jayden had a portable game player, sketchbook, and a more appetizing snack. It didn't take the two agents long to start talking, after all they had all night to kill so why not get to know each other a little bit?

Jayden discussed what it was like to be a rookie agent in the CIA and his past as a track star in DC. Peter talked about how he and his wife were looking to move, but they hadn't found the perfect place yet. Then the two got to talking about their idea of a perfect agent, the kind of agent that they wished to work with or aspired to be. Ironically, Peter described a combination of Danny and Bryce while Jayden described Peter. They both noticed that the other's description was uncannily close to who they were, but neither dreamed that the other was actually describing them. After a while they moved on to discussing their skills in the field and shared tips of how they could each make their skills better. As the sun was rising, another team was sent in to relieve them.

While Peter was driving Jayden to drop him off at his hotel, Jayden made an interesting comment. "I'm being prepped for an undercover assignment. Should I get the opportunity, would you like me to look you up for an international game of cat and mouse?"

Intrigued, Peter asked for more details. "What kind of an international game of cat and mouse would you be offering?"

Smiling, "One where I would leave you clues as to where I was and what I was doing while you would try in vain to solve them in order to catch up to me."

Peter smirked in an amused response. "'In vain' huh?"

The air was charged with friendly competition and each one felt like this was going to be one fun game. "Uh huh, a bet with you and the FBI set against me and the CIA. The loser has to take the winner out for diner and declare them to be the smarter person for a week as the prizes."

"Feeling a little childish are we, I mean declaring the winner as the smartest person for a week?"

Shrugging, Jayden replied. "An indeterminable long international chase mixed with a battle of wits and a clash of intelligence… who wouldn't want crowing rights after winning at that?"

Unable to help the chuckle that escapes, Peter concedes to allowing crowing rights for the winner should they so feel the need. "Are there any other rules that I should know about?"

"Well, due to the rules that my bosses are enforcing, I can't let you know when the game has begun or ended and I can't let you know that it is even me that you're playing."

Peter turned to look at Jayden with interest. "Your bosses are involved? So you're saying that this isn't just going to be some game to hone our skills but an actual mission on your part with your boss's permission?"

Meeting Peter's eyes for a moment, before directing his attention back to the road, Jayden said. "Yes. I have an assignment coming up where I am to choose an FBI contact to take the part of the FBI while I do my job. What that job is isn't something that I can share, but I'm thinking that you'll be the agent that I choose. After all, you do the right thing when it counts and I like working with you. Taking my past into consideration, that is saying something."

The car grew silent for a few minutes while both of the occupants think over the implications of what was transpiring between them.

Jayden thinks about how he has said way too much. He isn't supposed to be telling Peter anything about his mission, yet alone asking for his permission to include him in it! If the bosses ever find out about this he is probably going to be sentenced to desk work for the rest of his career!

Peter thinks that this young man has a past that he can't share, but that has affected his ability to trust. He feels proud that he is the agent that the young man feels comfortable enough to work with. Also, he does realize what just happened. The agent told him about a secret CIA mission, something he probably wasn't supposed to do, in order to get Peter's permission to mess with his life in the future.

"I accept the challenge and all of the rules that go with it. But, I do have a few request of my own to make."

"Go on…"

"First, thank you for sharing this with me and giving me the chance to agree to you putting me through what will likely be a lot of trouble. Second, I want you to take care of yourself out there. You remind me of a few young friends and I would like to know that you are okay. Finally, is there a way that we can keep in touch just in case?"

With a relieved smile, Jayden agreed to his requests. "Yeah, if you give me your email, I can create one specifically for you to keep in touch."

Pulling up in front of Jayden's hotel, Peter extended a business card with is information on it. Jayden accepted the card as he got out and told Peter that he would meet him at the office in the afternoon to complete the paperwork.

It was midafternoon when they met up in the office. Each one had rested and cleaned up to finish up their part of the case. Jayden was to leave on a late night flight and Peter was going to be an agent who kept an eye on the situation. It appeared that the corrupted felt the need to take a break for a bit so the agents were going to pull back, the waiting game had begun.

Jayden was stationed at the desk closest to the door. He had a clear view of Peter, the bosses' offices, the conference room, the office in general, and the entire hallway entering into the office. At a point when no one was looking, he carved his initials into the desk in a location where only he was likely to ever know about them. It was a promise to himself. He was going to continue to work with Peter as much as possible, and maybe someday, he would come to work with him as his full time partner in the FBI.

That evening Peter invited Jayden over for dinner to meet his wife. Elizabeth had heard about this young agent that was reminiscent to Danny and Bryce, so she wanted to meet him herself. Jayden agreed, and Peter gave him a lift to the hotel for his belongings before they continued on to the Burke's residence.

The apartment was rather blank as far as color to the structure went, then again most city apartments are kept simple for the repeated use of an endless line of tenants. Still, Elizabeth had put her mark on the place. There was art on the walls, functional furnishings, and splashes of colors that gave the place a homey feel.

Throughout the evening they ate and enjoyed pleasant conversation. Elizabeth spent some time asking her own questions into who Jayden was and what his life was like.

"So, what made you decide to join the CIA?"

"Oh, an FBI agent and his wife made the suggestion to me once. That put the idea as a possibility in my head, but it wasn't until the next year when a recruiter approached me that I made the decision to join. We talked, and he sold me on the career path. Would you please pass the potatoes?"

There were two startled chokes and a few moments of effort as the two endeavored to regain their control. When they had settled down, Jayden asked, "Are you alright? Is it something that I said?"

Trying to placate him, the couple started speaking at once. "No, no it's nothing that you said specifically…" "…It just reminds us of someone else. You are so much like him that we didn't expect your answer to be reminiscent of a conversation that we had with him."

Elizabeth passed the potatoes while a few moments of awkward silence filled the space. When Jayden dished up some more potatoes, Elizabeth and Peter shared a look over his head as they were both surprised that he reminded them so much of Bryce.

The rest of the evening was spent with Peter and Elizabeth once again trying to understand the feeling like Jayden might be the other two. How could they be so much alike and yet not be the same person? But, how could they be the same person and not come out and say it? They were two confused people who didn't understand what was right in front of them.

Jayden spent the rest of his evening trying to disconnect the similarities between himself and the prior identities that they had met.

When it came time for the evening to draw to an end, Peter wished Jayden good luck with his next assignment, Elizabeth thanked Jayden for protecting Peter, and Jayden said his parting words. "It is only going to be a matter of time… he'll slip up eventually, and we'll be waiting there to catch him." With a final nod of thanks, Jayden disappeared into a dark car that was waiting at the curb and pulled off into the night.

*******

Jayden had made a vow to himself to get back to work with Peter if he could, and he had a means of keeping in touch with Peter should he so feel the desire to. There was no longer a need to wait for chance and fate to be brought together to arrange encounters.

Peter was relieved that this time he had a means of contact, a promise of future interaction (even though details weren't too specific), and another picture to add to his growing collection.

Elizabeth had asked to take Jayden's picture while they were waiting for dinner to finish cooking. He had complied by smiling for the camera where he was seated next to Peter on the couch. She later joked with Peter that they were getting quite the collection of friends who seemed so interconnected without being possible to be so interconnected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another thanks to those out there who are taking the time to let me know that they like the story. I appreciate each favorite, follow, and kudos :D


	5. Let the Games Begin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I was twenty-three when my character Neal Caffrey went into play with an alias of Nick Halden, let the games begin. (Each section alternates between Bryce's identities and Peter).

*******

Walking into Director Graham’s office, it was time for me to begin playing my role.

The first piece of business was for my boss to assess for himself that I was ready to go undercover in such a big role. He was putting a lot of faith in me as such an inexperienced rookie, but it had already been decided that I was the best person for the role.

It turned out that Graham was impressed when I managed to pick his pocket, forged his signature, and made him call me by the wrong name in matter of mere minutes.

With that taken care of, we had to tackle who was going to be my FBI contact and how we wanted to bring the FBI into play. I was emphatic that the contact had to be Peter Burke and the Director wanted to know why.

“I have known him since I was seventeen. He doesn’t know for sure that I am really the same person and I intend to keep it that way. However, I have watched him in how he treats strangers, the progress of his relationship with Mrs. Burke, how he works, and I even watched him do the right thing in circumstances where it could unjustly ruin him. The most important part is that I trust him and after everything that has happened, that is important to me.”

Nodding, the director said. “I see. You do know that he can’t know anything about you being an agent and if he ever gets too close we will have to remove him from the case?”

Sitting up straight, I outlined my plan to handle the situation. “Yes sir, and I have a plan in place just in case that should occur. He knows me as Jayden the CIA agent and has recognized the similarity to my appearances in my different personas. I intend to pretend to have swapped places with or utilized my Caffrey identity for the duration of an operation of which I can’t disclose the details to him. If the need for those circumstances ever did arise, then Caffrey would be being detained in a CIA holding facility or safe house, depending on his knowledge of my alleged guilt. That way my multiple roles in his life remain intact and my cover is unblemished.”

Again, the director nodded and said “I see. If you feel that this plan will work, we can give it a chance, but if it doesn’t…”

The way he left the sentence hanging was alluding to the fact that the CIA would step in and handle the situation as they saw fit if my efforts failed. There was nothing more to say, but simply, “Yes sir.”

Finally, we had to decide how I was going to begin my undercover role in the field and get the FBI on my tail. (This was going to be the fun part).

Another agency had an agent undercover to investigate a New York businessman. He was suspected of having ties to a lengthy list of crimes but no one could fully connect him to anyone of them. That is where Agent Kate Moreau came in.

She was investigating Vincent Adler and playing his beautiful assistant to get close to him. While there, she thought she had seen a criminal contact that could get NealCaffrey into the criminal world.

I walked out of the director’s office with a folder of information and a ticket to New York City.

*******

It started as just another day at the bureau. I had gotten up, kissed my wife good morning, ate a nice peaceful breakfast, and drove to work with my coffee. After I arrived at work, I rode the elevator up to the 21st floor, greeted my coworkers on my way to my desk, and I got to work on my pile of cases.

Later in the day, a case was added to my pile with a simple “Here’s another one for you Peter.” My partner made his own comment, “Stop hoarding all the new cases Burke,” while he was buried in his own pile of case folders. I skimmed over the basic details and was impressed that the artist had created virtually flawless forged bonds from Atlantic Incorporated. Since those bonds had never been forged before, it meant that this person was not afraid to take on a challenge and he was talented enough to take on the biggest challenge in the industry. Offering the file to my partner, I was relieved when he turned it down… I was looking forward to this one.

After that, the case became dubbed as “James Bonds,” and he was my obsession. His file went home with me, remained on top of the pile on my desk at work, and was on my mind whenever I thought about the perfect criminal opponent.

It was a funny thing. When I thought of blue eyes and dark hair, I thought of the perfect agent that I wanted to work with as a partner, but when I thought of those bonds, I thought of the perfect criminal opponent. Somehow, I had discovered the perfect people in my life. My wife, the elements of three people that became the perfect partner, and the perfect criminal to chase. Too bad one was a combination of three people and the other was a criminal. At least there is Elizabeth. She is smart, caring, supportive, beautiful, and the perfect other half for me… even better is the fact that she exists and agreed to marry me.

Still, it was my job to catch this perfect criminal, and he was making it challenging.

First, I checked the bonds to see if there was any way to identify their creator. The fingerprints didn’t exist or weren’t complete enough to get a match. If there was a signature or mark of identification, we didn’t see it. Bonds was smart not to leave any form of identification for us to catch him by.

Then, I looked into how he was getting supplies. The paper was specialty, inks of the most complex mixtures, and nothing was missing. There was no way to forge these products, and no shipments were missing, so how was he getting the supplies?

Next, I looked into what known criminals, artists, and students might have the skills to accomplish these forgeries. There wasn’t much of a list… less than a handful could possibly even do two of the pieces that it took, yet alone all three (seal, signature, and security strip) to that level of skill. It didn’t take long to figure out that we were dealing with someone new.

Finally, I began to compile a profile about this genius criminal. Everything that I could find from his eighteenth birthday forwards through his progressing crimes was kept in that folder. Then based off of that growing folder, I went to work on designing a way to catch him… if I got the chance to test it out.

*******

Agent Moreau had spotted a little man with a goatee and toupee snooping around Adler. Granted, he tried to be subtle, but Kate was working to find anything that could get her the information that she was seeking. Judging by the way that he was sneaking around, she assumed that he was either a criminal associate, or a criminal looking to take advantage of Adler’s prominent position. Either way, he would be an in for me. I just had to find him and convince him to work with me.

A few agents tailed the little man and discovered that he liked to hang out around Central Park. He was a known street con who tended to run Three-card Monte with his associate and appeared to be interested in moving up in the world of crime.

He would be perfect, all I had to do was interact with their game in a way that caught the little man’s interest. Then I had a set of forged bonds that had been created specifically for this operation in order to keep his interest in me as a potential working associate. If I worked it right, he would get me a reputation in the criminal world, get me closer to Adler to help on the investigation, and he would get me to do something that would put the FBI on my tail.

My first move was to pull a slight of hand trick and insert a card from another deck in as the lady. Once I had taken them for $500, I simply walked away and let him come to me. It didn’t take long, I hadn’t even gotten the money put away in a book before there was a knock on the door. I refused to seem eager so I endeavored to get him to go away. Luckily, he was eager to take me on as a working associate so he continued to knock and talked through the door until I let him in. We talked and he brought me in on his plan of “Summiting the Everest of swindles.”

That was how we got started. Then Mozzie taught me how to be a con from his personal experience, gave me the beginnings of a reputations on the streets, and in financing the swindle, I got the FBI on my tail. In short, I got everything I wanted out of my working relationship with Mozzie.

It didn’t take long for me to start cashing in the bonds, and with the third one, I met Peter again. Nick Halden made his debut.

*******

It was one of the many days that I was researching James and his bonds. I went to a local bank that was likely to be a target for cashing in the forgeries, and it was coming due for another one to show up on the market. The plan was to give them a heads up and request that the manager detain Bonds before giving me a call should he ever show up at her location.

As I stood outside of the bank speaking with the manager, I noticed two men speaking a short distance from me. One was short with a toupee and goatee while the other was tall with dark hair. Since the tall one had his back to me, I didn’t see his face at first. Then the short one left with a money bag and the tall one joined our conversation as the manager left.

His approach was polite and curious. “Excuse me. Sorry, I couldn't help but overhear. Are you with the FBI?”

Getting a full look at him, I was once again faced by blue eyes and dark hair. For a moment I pictured a young Danny, Bryce, and Jayden standing before me. In the back of my mind I wondered about Jayden’s promise of a game… Was this it? Then I put those thoughts aside and introduced myself. “Special agent Peter Burke.”

It was like meeting a star struck kid.“Wow. I just took some money out of the bank, and I heard you talking about counterfeiting.”

I took the role of the reassuring agent and tried to ease his concerns. “Your money's safe. I'm looking after counterfeit bonds.”

He continued with the role of the concerned citizen. “Well, I have some bonds at home. How would I know if they're not real?”

For a moment, I though over the likely hood that he would have forged bonds at home. If he was the innocent young man that he was acting like, then he probably had legitimate bonds at home. Jayden would be doing something for a mission, so his bonds wouldn’t be a problem. But, if he was a criminal, his bonds might not be so legal. Deciding that his odd were two for three in my estimation, it was likely that they were okay. “I'm sure they're fine.” (Besides, I wasn’t going to go into detail on how to forge bonds with a one in three shot that he could be a criminal).

He was grateful to me for easing his fears… on the surface any way. I had the feeling like there was something more to his conversation than there appeared. It was almost like his oozing of charm was hiding his amusement at me. “Well, thanks again for all the hard work you're doing, agent Burke.” Then he handed me a green sucker, like I was a little kid who had been good. “That's for you. Have a good day.” And he walked away.

I was surprised when he handed me the sucker. What was I, the little kid that had behaved well while standing in line at the bank so I deserved candy? How had he gotten one anyway? He probably flirted with the teller so she flirted back by giving him a sucker. I turned with a simple role of my eyes as I watched him walk away.

There was definitely something odd about that conversation… perhaps I should go watch the security footage of his transaction at the bank.

*******

It was the first time that we had met, with me being a criminal that is.

He was talking to the bank manager about my forged bonds and requesting that she notify him should I try to cash any in at that location.

Mozzie warned me that I shouldn’t talk to a fed. But since it was Peter, I couldn’t resist.

I walked up to them and joined the conversation. Ironically, it was the same time that the manager left the conversation, so it was just Peter and I.

It was fun to play the star struck kid and pretend to be the concerned citizen. As we talked, Peter patiently answered my questions and played his role of the reassuring agent.

At one point I could see him weighing the odds, calculating the statistics, of my bonds being forgeries. It was like he was weighing the odds of me being a concerned citizen, the criminal, or Jayden all at once. Perhaps… perhaps I could tell him that the games had begun after all?

On an impulse, I decided to thank him for his hard work and give him the sucker that the teller had given me. If my guess was right, Peter would instinctually know that something was off in my conversation and do some research. Then when he saw the security footage that showed me cashing in a bond, he would know what the candy meant and reciprocate the game.

*******

As usual, my gut was right. There was something off about that conversation and he was amused by my naiveté to him being James Bonds standing right in front of me.

When I reviewed the tape, it was to watch the tall young man converse with the teller and cash in a bond… an Atlantic Incorporated bond that turned out to be a forgery. Then he walked out of the building where I had already witnessed what occurred outside.

A part of me felt frustrated that he had the audacity to simply walk up to me and ask me about counterfeits when he himself was the master mind behind the very forgeries that I was looking for. On the other hand, he was smart! He had played on my naiveté and took advantage of the opportunity to try to get to know me. “Know thine enemy” and all that. If he held up to the standards that I now expected of him, this was going to be the chase of a lifetime.

It’s always fun to play with a smart opponent… let the games begin, and I’ll show you how much of a “sucker” I am!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love how much you are responding to this story, since last week there have been more kudos, follows, and a comment. Thank you to those who continue to take the time to leave something :D


	6. International Cat and Mouse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For three years Peter chased me around the globe as we played our games. (Another alternating perspective chapter).

*******

There were three types of messages that I tended to send Peter as he chased me. When I was innocent of the crime that he pursued me for, then I left notes as to what I was actually doing. If it was a crime that I “allegedly” committed, then I left a note revealing a larger crime for him to solve. The final type of message that I sent him were personal little notes. These were either general good wishes like “Happy Birthday” or a picture depicting something of who I am.

It was rewarding for Peter to solve the notes and either prove me innocent and get the actual criminal, or for him to catch a larger bust as well as add to his growing file on me. As for the last message style, these were the most dangerous and therefore the most irresistible. I still wanted to have that personal connection to my mentor and friend, but I wasn’t able to come out and say these things, so I left them for him to decipher if he could.

It could be said that I was playing a dangerous game, but that is what being a spy is all about.

**********

The first time that I left a note for Peter was in London.

There had been a robbery at the home of a Duke and Duchess where a diamond necklace was stolen out of a high security home with no trace of who had committed the crime.

Since I was Peter’s favorite go to guy for the impossible crime, as well as in the city, it was obvious that he would have to check me out. I didn’t have time to hang around, so I left him a note with my alibi.

“Peter,

In respects to the crime of the stolen diamond necklace. I am quite certain that you suspect me, but I am acquitted due to my activities elsewhere. You see, there are other jewels in the city besides the necklace.

Last night I went to dinner at a fabulous restaurant, saw a show (I’m sure you could guess which one), and did it all in the pleasant company of the lovely elderly Lady Darcy.

What was I doing spending the evening with a wealthy lady of title?

Well, I ran into a Commander Barker of her majesties military yesterday at a gentlemen’s club. We spent the afternoon discussing local topics, and as the day was drawing to an end, he requested a favor of me in honor of his beloved aunt. He informed me that she had always dreamed of a dashing young, dark haired, blue eyed man taking her out for an evening of fine dining and entertainments. The request was that I happen to meet her on her way to dinner that evening and he would arrange the rest.

My intention was simply to make a dying ladies dreams come true with no criminal actions whatsoever. As I am sure you will not take me at my word, please contact the two people specified and give them the name listed below.

Sincerely,

William ‘Will’ Wentworth”

I could never tell Peter that the discussions of local topics included a joint task force operation that I was working with Agent Barker. That is why I couldn’t stick around, I had a job to do and the local spooks waiting.

It was also to remain secret that Lady Darcy was aware that Cole works for the British government and claimed me as a friend from his work. Therefore, Lady Darcy felt no reason not to allow me to accompany her through her evening.

After I was done working the operation with Cole, I decided to check into Peter’s case. He was doing well, but the suspect was evading him. It didn’t take much work to arrange for a little assistance from Cole. We had the suspect trapped and turned over to the local police in no time.

Peter got the credit for his work, and we were his silent helpers.

*******

The first note that I received from James Bonds was in London. (It’s a good thing he had no idea what his case name was or he would have likely left a corresponding joke. Perhaps a martini shaken, not stirred?)

A diamond necklace had been stolen from a Duke and Duchess’ personal home safe. The crime had been committed during the evening when the family was out to dinner. Upon further investigation, there were no fingerprints, the safe was reputed to be un-crackable, and the staff was long standing and well trusted. It would seem that the criminal had accomplished the perfect crime.

I checked into the local hotels and discovered that someone fitting James’ description was in fact staying in the city. Looking further into the records I became rather certain that the person was my criminal. With enough information to call him in as a potential suspect, I directed the local police to his establishment.

All they found was a note addressed to me, and after checking into the alibi, it was discovered that the young man was indeed innocent… this time…

His note was added into my folder and the chase continued.

*******

The second time I left a note for Peter was when a picture was obviously switched out in The Louvre.

It was a visiting art collection that was being used to smuggle stolen art, and according to Orion, one particular piece was an attempt at smuggling information on the Intersect. A group connected to Fulcrum had managed to get their hands on some of the information connected to Orion’s work and once they had acquired it, they hid the information in the picture using the intersect technology. As the picture was being transferred to Fulcrum, another group decided that the picture had to be valuable so they intercepted the transfer. In the hands of the new owners, the picture was evaluated and sold to a buyer. The buyer in turn thought that he had purchased a treasure and he wished to show off to the world. His choice of showing it off was to put it into his collection that was going to be displayed in The Louvre.

As the collection traveled through several large societal art locations, it caught the attention of the CIA. An agent noticed that the picture seemed to have more to it than first met the eye so he reported it to his boss. From there, the investigation traveled up through the ranks until it arrived on the desk of Director Graham. He decided to send an agent that he trusted in to retrieve the picture and for whatever reason, he chose me.

It was a beautiful heist if I do say so myself.

My first move was to subtly hack through The Louvre’s security system in order to give myself a door. That door turned out to be the ventilation system. Despite the extra security in that area, I was able to find one hole… with the large fan. Since it was dangerous, it was easier to get past the security system and into the ventilation shafts from that location, than it was to gain entry from any other form of ingress in the entire building. Once I was in the ventilation shaft, I army crawled my way to the collection and dropped down via suspension cables.

While I was hanging in the air looking over the picture, I noticed that the frame seemed to have an element of secrecy to it as well. It had originally been my plan to switch the picture with my forgery and leave the frame, but with the frame looking suspicious, I was going to have to take it as well. That was going to be a problem, I did have a frame with me to use, but it wasn’t going to match the current frame in a close enough approximation to pass any form of close scrutiny. Still, if it had to be done, it had to be done.

After I had switched out the pictures, I hid the frame in the restoration room with a set up for it to appear as if the frame had been removed for care and been lost. With my switch completed, it was time for me to slip out of the building.

Things went well, that is until the correct (and extremely unique) frame couldn’t be found. That was when the reality of a crime having been committed hit the radar and the law enforcement went into action. It didn’t take long for Peter to show up at my hotel room with a full entourage of local law enforcement. Once again, all he found was a note.

“Peter the cat,

First, check into the owners papers for the picture and you will find them to be forgeries.

Second, if you check into the owner you will discover that he is suspected of smuggling stolen art.

Third, the evidence that you need to close several large cases connected to this crime is enclosed in the envelope below (and don’t get your hopes up as there isn’t a confession (from me) included).

Sincerely,

The Mouse :D”

In the envelope, I had given Peter enough information that the law enforcement was more concerned with closing the larger crimes than the switching out of one forged painting for another. But Peter, he put that case into my folder and kept it in mind as something he still wanted answers for.

As for the picture, I turned it in to my boss. The Director didn’t think I knew anything more than that the picture was used for smuggling information, how much I actually knew, was a secret kept between Orion and I.

*******

After the second note, I forgot about any comparisons to Danny that may have come to mind with James Bonds. He was now solely James Bonds to me and I wanted to put him away if it was the last thing I did.

To explain my frustration, I have to go into detail about what happened.

The theft was a stolen picture from The Louvre. It was a new find and reputed to be very valuable, however, it was the frame and not the picture that made the crime noticed. After the crime had been committed, the frame was noticed to be missing, and when it couldn’t be found, the crime was reported.

When the information of the crime was spread through the crime solving world, I couldn’t resist looking into it to see if Bonds was active again. As I looked into the theories of the local police, I could tell that they were looking for a more average criminal than I was expecting. Their theory was the more obvious plan of sneaking in with the visitors and hiding until after closing (perhaps something along the line of the plot from “How to steal a million”). However, I had the feeling that perhaps Bonds was more daring… and the most daring entry was the fan into the ventilation shaft. I added my perspective for the local investigators to review and sat back to see what they got as a result.

It didn’t take long before they found my theory to be the correct version of entry. The security camera caught a hairline glimpse of a person hanging from the ventilation shaft in front of the picture before they stole it. I was called in to help with the investigation since it was my theory that proved to be correct. For a few days I ran through my reasoning, reviewed the evidence to back it, and discovered the location that he had been staying at.

When we entered the premises of the hotel room, it was immediately obvious that Bonds had wiped the room clean and left us no evidence… then I found the note. He proceeded to tell me his own justifications for stealing the picture while conveniently managing not to admit to having anything to do with it. What frustrated me more, was that his evidence was logged and taken into account for closing several larger thefts and a bigger circle of crime. In the end, I was the only person still actively looking for Bonds for his crime, the local law enforcement was okay with letting it fall into the background as the picture that started the arrests.

Then there was how he opened and closed his note… he called me a cat and happily referred to himself as the mouse that I was chasing… just give me a trap and some cheese to back that up!

*******

The other means of communication that I liked to send Peter were cards.

One of my favorite cards was hand delivered…

It was coming on Christmas in New York and Peter had a location staked out where he thought I was staying… thought being the key word. He was sitting with an Agent Jones in a cramped little utility van as they watched the window to my alleged room. It was getting late, the temp was dropping, and they had to be getting hungry.

I decided that I wanted to do more than simply set in my own monitoring van and watch them in their van allegedly watching me… it was more fun to flirt with the danger of having Peter recognize me. It didn’t take me long to place an order for two delectable steak dinners and fixings as well as pick up a couple of large delicious coffees. With the addition of a delivery costume and set up, I simply walked up to the van and knocked on the back door.

After a few moments of muttered communication, the door opened up to reveal two confused FBI agents. Before they could say anything, I decided to say my line like an impatient delivery person who wanted to get back indoors. “I have a delivery for the FBI courtesy of the gentleman in room #34.”

The looks on their faces was priceless! Peter looked wide eyed at me before he seemed to be mentally stuck between rolling his eyes in amusement and giving an angry, ranting speech about how annoying his perp was. Agent Jones also had a wide eyed expression on his face. He handled the situation differently though in that he quickly turned to the screens with the thought of “ _When did he spot us?”_

Keeping up my delivery persona, I hurried to give them the food and drinks and hurried to turn away. Before Peter could fully shut the door, I pretended to remember that I was also instructed to include a card per the purchaser’s request. With a quick spin around I got Peter’s attention. “Oh, I nearly forgot. The purchaser requested that I give a…” looking at the envelope “’Peter,’ this Christmas card.”

Peter took the card with a curious glance and with a quiet “Thank you” he shut the door.

I slipped back to my van and spent the rest of the evening wondering what Peter thought about my card. (He never looked too closely at me in my delivery costume).

*******

Jones and I were sitting in the van freezing and bored.

We were certain that we had a location on James Bonds so we persevered to keep our position in the hopes that we could catch him in any way. Really, I just wanted to catch him whether it was red handed or not, it no longer mattered since I had enough evidence as soon as I could catch him.It was going on Christmas so the city was lit up for the holiday, the people were busy buzzing around with plans, snow covered the ground, and the temperature was steadily dropping. Combining the holiday feeling outside with Elizabeth working on holiday plans at home, and the cold, boring activity of the van was by far a heavy task to endure.

Later in the evening, Jones and I were desiring hot food and some good steaming coffee. Unfortunately, all we had was cooling coffee and cold sandwiches… Then there was a knock on the door. We conversed quietly for a moment as we looked to see who was outside the door through the frost on the windows. Once I could see that it was a delivery person, we decided to open the door to see what he had.

Before I could speak, he hurried through his greeting in a hurry to get back inside. “I have a delivery for the FBI courtesy of the gentleman in room #34.”

_James Bonds sent us dinner? By the smell of it he seems to have provided a good hot meal with a good roasted coffee in a large steaming cup. There was plenty for two, but really… We were supposed to be watching him without him taking notice of us! If we couldn’t pull a simple stake out without him seeing us, how were we ever supposed to apprehend this guy?_ Although I found his antics amusing, there was the part of me that couldn’t help but be the annoyed agent who felt there was a better means of chasing this criminal than be given dinner to watch what I was now certain was an empty room. _So much for a Merry Christmas after all!_

I accepted the food from the guy and passed it back to Jones as he checked the screens to see when we had been spotted.

At first the delivery guy walked away, then he caught my attention with a swift spin back around to face me. He pulled a card out of his pocket with, “Oh, I nearly forgot. The purchaser requested that I give a…” looking at the envelope “’Peter,’ this Christmas card.”

Reaching for the card, I accepted it with a quiet thanks before I shut the door.

Settling back into my seat, I turned the card over in my hand.

The envelope was a heavy satin feeling paper with a sleek image of my name scrolled a crossed the top. Inside, I opened it up to reveal a beautiful card. It depicted a man and a woman going for a romantic sleigh ride through a beautiful Christmas setting with a handsome, young driver steering them through the best part of the scenery. I assumed that the card was sent to me for the simple beauty of the cover, but a faint memory of a horse drawn carriage tour came to mind any way. Further opening the card, I discovered a simple message.

“Peter,

Merry Christmas to you and yours. I hope that the New Year will bring you good fortune in your endeavors and come to a safe conclusion. Enjoy your dinner, and stay warm.

Until next time,

The Mouse

P.S. That wish for ‘good fortune in your endeavors’ is in everything, but catching me ;)”

As usual his note brought up a mix of emotions.

I was amused that he had the audacity to write personal little notes to me. Some were alibis to prove his innocence while others were well wishes in general. There were some pictures depicting scenes that made me think that maybe the kid was sharing little pieces of himself. These were the notes that made me love the chase, they were the things that set him apart, as being something more than just some criminal to catch.

Then there were the ones that annoyed me. They were the ones where he explained his reasoning for pulling a crime. It was almost like he was saying “This is a task that had to be done. I know you would say ‘No crime ever has to be done,’ but in this circumstances you would be wrong. Here is why…” He was putting his reasoning in my face, as if that justifies his actions! I wanted to think that he was better than that, but then there was the part of those notes where he turned over a larger crime by drawing attention to them with his own smaller crimes. In the big picture these actually worked well with my perspective of him, he was an adrenaline junky who got his highs in pulling crimes, but he was careful not to pull too big of a crime or hurt others as he also pointed out those who did hurt others.

There were a lot of reasons why he was my favorite criminal.

As Jones watched me go over the note, he brought my attention back to the food that was going to grow cold if we didn’t dig in soon. With annoyed, humor, we dug in and ate the delicious food while joking about how he was fueling us to catch him.

Our stake out was only fruitful in proving that Bonds was around, but it was one of many tedious steps in the right direction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the kudos and follow :D


	7. Capture

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After three years of play, I was ordered to let Peter catch me. (Alternating perspectives for Peter and Neal).

*******

I was called into the boss’s office again. This time it was to receive the orders to allow myself to be captured.

Director Graham had decided that there was another direction better suited to my skills and his current need of them. Since there was a group called Fulcrum who were working to recruit me, he wanted me to appear to fall for their efforts. Once I had been “recruited” I was to be undercover as a mole in their operation. Anything that I discovered was to be reported directly to him and he was to remain the only person who knew that I was not a traitor, but undercover.

However, I first had to be pulled from my Neal Caffrey cover in order to focus on my new role.

*******

I had my team convened in the conference room and we were working to try and catch the ever elusive Neal Caffrey. He had been evading me for three years and it was well past time for us to manage to catch him… it was a matter of how that was the problem…

There was a new probie in the office and she had a clever idea… use Kate as the bait to catch Caffrey. After all, he searched all over the world for her, he increased the intensity of his crimes in an effort to gain her attentions, and she was right here in New York City!

*******

Mozzie thought that he was doing his duty to me as his friend, and I seriously mean that he was doing his duty. If he hadn’t felt that he should tell me, he never would have told me that he had heard of Kate’s location through such an un-reputable source. After all, listening to a known snitch in the criminal world usually got you busted… really… that wasn’t a bad idea! If Peter was fishing to catch me through my alleged relationship with Kate and my orders were to get myself captured… then I had to walk into this. Chuckling to myself, I thought _“Peter is going to make getting myself captured the easiest part of this whole game!”_

*******

Our first step was to put the word out on the streets as to where Kate was located.

While we waited for word to get around, we set up a surveillance van and put a team on call to be in close range to help us catch Caffrey as soon as he was seen on site.

Then, all we had to do was wait…

*******

Today is the day… for my arrest.

It feels wrong, in a way, to have played a super criminal for years only to simply, knowingly, walk into a trap with the full intent of getting taken into custody.

As I walk up to the building, I am mentally counting the locations where agents are watching me. It is impossible not to be amused by the strategy that Peter chose to use. If I was just a criminal, I would have missed these agents in hiding, but since I am an agent myself, I get to be amused by playing “I Spy the FBI.”

First, there was the agent pretending to be working a news stand, then there was the agent simply stepping out for a smoke, and of course there was no missing the random municipal van sitting down a few doors. I had already passed the van with the backup team tucked away a block back and my preliminary check had spotted the agents watching the back of the building. Really, Peter had a set up to catch me coming and going… there was no way to get out of this trap once I walked in. Luckily, I wanted to be caught so that wasn’t going to be a problem.

After I walked in, I found Kate in a back room and told her that Peter was closing in to arrest me in a few minutes. She was amused that I simply walked into the trap, but she understood that it was time for me to change my cover based to the new direction that I was being sent. With the clock ticking the time down, we played up our romantic cover and pretended to be surprised when the door burst open to reveal the FBI in full swat uniforms. With the guns trailing my every movement, I stepped back from Kate and placed my hands on the back of my head.

Peter moved to stand in front of me and informed me that I was under arrest. Some would say that it was a stupid move, but I couldn’t resist putting my hand out to shake Peter’s hand. We spoke for a few moments before he decided to shake, and then Jones clicked the cuff around my extended hand while Peter held it in place.

While Jones finished cuffing me, I couldn’t help but joke about how I had spotted their van but leave out how I had seen the rest of their trap. “So you guys were all in that municipal van out front… that’s got to be uncomfortable.” Jones continued off of my line and added, “It doesn’t smell too good either.”

When we were leaving, I couldn’t help but look back for two reasons. I enjoyed sharing the look with Kate as we both knew that I was allowing the arrest. But most of all, I enjoyed the look of achievement on Peter’s face as he pulled out the green sucker that I had given him back at the beginning of the games.

*******

I had finally caught the infamous Neal Caffrey! With the help of my team we set a trap and Caffrey had walked right in.

Now we were in the interrogation room back at the office and I was taking point at trying to get the kid to confess to any of his crimes (I had him on the bonds but I really wanted to close as many cases as possible). The problem was that he was playfully resisting all efforts to question him.

“How did you know about the painting in The Louvre? Your information led to the arrest of an entire ring of smugglers, but there were no known means of how you could know that the painting was a forgery.” _That wasn’t how I wanted to ask him about that! He is tapping his fingers on the table and throwing me off of my rhythm, it is hard to be direct when he keeps throwing me off._ Despite his efforts being successful at misdirecting my question, I still watched to see how he would react.

For a few moments he simply continued to tap and annoy me, but I could tell that he was thinking. When he had an answer for me (he was quick because it only took a second or two for him to come up with it), he smirked at me like it was the most obvious answer. “I’m allegedly an art forger. Wouldn’t it be conceivable for me to be aware of what my competitors would be doing? Also, wouldn’t it be advantageous to have those same competitors be removed from the field by the FBI?”

I really wanted to wipe that smug expression off of his face. _Does he seriously think that I am so stupid as to not be able to come up with those theories on my own? ‘Cause I already thought about those reasons, however they don’t exactly feel right. There is something more to his story, as usual, and no matter how much I wish he would share, I am a player on the other team and therefore perceived as the enemy. He won’t share anything with me… anything beyond what I can already put him away for that is._

“We both know that there is more to you than that. However, that is the part that you refuse to share. So, moving on to the next question. Why all the cards? It isn’t normal for the running felon to send his ‘Best Wishes’ to the pursuing officer.”

On the surface his expression was all amusement and confidence, the very elements that are normal to criminal who likes yanking the chain of the pursuing law enforcement. But looking hard, I could see a bit of a desire to know and be known. He was trying to connect to me without allowing me to get too close to him. “What? So it is illegal to taunt the FBI with cards that say you’re sending them your ‘Best Wishes’ when you both know that you don’t wish them good luck in their endeavor to catch you?” I gave him a big brotherly/paternal look that said I wasn’t buying his story. As this particular situation didn’t pertain to a crime, I figured that I might have better luck at getting him to open up. “Really, I figured that it wouldn’t hurt to be friendly. We were playing an International game of cat and mouse so I thought that a few not- too-personal touches could be fun.”

I rolled my eyes at him as he said that we were just playing a game. “We weren’t simply playing an ‘International game of cat and mouse.’ We were a suspected criminal and the pursuing officer caught up in the act of the pursuit of justice for me with the intent of evading it for you. Why don’t you ever tell the truth? I already caught you on one crime, but you evade answers even on those things that are not related to your crimes. There is no crime in leaving the cards, so why don’t you want to talk about them?”

For a moment he had a look that said he wanted to open up, and for the first time I felt that maybe I had a chance to get him to open up with me. Then he quickly dashed those hopes as suddenly as they had come alive. “Ask me no questions and I will tell you no lies.” _Great, now he is quoting! Wait, I have been asking him questions… has he been lying?_ “I have been asking you questions, are you saying that you have been lying to me?”

Suddenly, he looked like he was carrying a burden. “I do my best to be honest with you. If I must, I will use any means of evading the truth necessary, if it is something that I can’t share, but I won’t lie to you Peter. It may not be direct, but you would be surprised how often I have told you the truth, how many times I left you the pieces to put the story together for yourself.”

Intrigued, I pursued the topic. “So, you’re saying that you have given me the pieces to put your story together and convict you of every crime that you have committed?”

Leaning towards me, he smiled and answered. “No Peter. I have given you the pieces to put virtually my entire life story together… as for the alleged crimes… well that is another story.”

Floored, I couldn’t help but lean back. “I haven’t been able to find anything on you before your eighteenth birthday. How have you given me the pieces to tell your whole life story?”

Smirking, he also leaned back. “I said that I gave you the pieces, there wasn’t anything about helping you solve them. Really, it is in both of our best interest if you never put them together… or at least not until it is a good time.” Then he muttered, “If that is ever allowed…” at a tone that I couldn’t hear, but I read the words on his lips.

That had me thinking. _‘If that is ever allowed, a good time, to put them together’… Was he saying that there was someone telling him what he could or couldn’t do? Or was it more of a personal thing… perhaps a reference to fate allowing something good in his life?_ I decided to keep most of my conjecture to myself, but I felt that there was one question that definitely needed to be addressed. “Why would it be in my ‘best interest’ if I never put them together?

I watched him closely to see what his reaction would be this time. At first there was a slight reaction like he might have given too much away, then he easily covered with an explanation. “My life… things don’t tend to go well for those who get too closely involved. It has been that way since I was three years old so there hasn’t been much that I can do about it, and when I try… it seems like I only create an alternate problem in an effort to avoid the original problem…” When he cut off, it looked like he was reflecting on those not so good things that had happened, perhaps the times he had changed from one bad course to another came to the forefront of his mind as he sat cuffed to the table.

“Do you mean to say that turning to crime was only a means of avoiding a worse path?” I wanted to know what got a person like him into crime. He wasn’t violent and he seemed to be desirous of helping people… in his own odd way.

Chuckling, “I guess you could say that. There is a whole lot more to the story that you haven’t put together yet… Like any child, I had a direction, plans, dreams… then reality sent them crumbling into dust at my feet. They weren’t a conceivable reality anymore and I feared where they would lead me after I learned the truth. Should I have pursued them with the perspective that I used to have… it is possible that something worse might have come of it… but then that is the train of ‘what ifs’ that never gives answers, only more questions.” As he finished, he seemed to be in a whole other world, a past that I had no part in.

I couldn’t help but feel like I was intruding. After all of my efforts to get him to open up to me, it felt like he opened up to me in a whole other means than I had expected. Here I had been hoping that maybe he would open up and share something about his crimes, or at the very least something non-crime related like why he sent the cards. But, here he opened up and shared that he was as honest with me as he could be and alluded to something tragic occurring in his childhood, something that changed the direction of the rest of his life.

We were quiet for a while as I thought over the interrogation and looked him over.

He hadn’t given me anything new, which was just as I expected, despite my hopes for more. However, he did have some surprising techniques to evade interrogation. The finger tapping, misdirection, all out evading answering… they were all things that professionals used. I wondered where he had learned them, but that probably fell under the ‘can’t tell you’ category, so I didn’t bother asking. There had been an emotional opening, but there wasn’t really any deeper direction to take that to, except to ask what the tragedy had been, and he clearly showed that he wasn’t going to be sharing that anytime soon. Finally, he was now seated back away from me, he had his arms crossed, and he was silently staring off to the side. These were all physical signs that he was done being sociable and was ready to be sent off to processing.

With a sigh, I wrapped up my conversation with him. “Is there anything else that you would like to say?”

Still not looking at me, he answered, “I think we both know that I have already said too much. It may not give you an edge on my alleged crimes, but it does give you an edge on me personally.”

 

Again, I was taken back as I realized that he had in fact give me a personal edge over him. Looking at him, I could tell that it wasn’t something that I could ever use against him. There was briefly a protective feeling that made me want to protect him from the world and despite my best efforts, it wouldn’t go completely away. _Great! Now I’m compromised as I feel a stronger desire to protect him than to simply walk away and let him face the consequences to his actions._

With a shake of my head, I dispelled my thoughts and proceeded to fill him in on the process that he could expect for the rest of the evening. Despite it not being customary, I had worked very hard to catch him and it was like I was seeing the situation through, so I rode with him to the booking facility.

Watching him leave had a ring of finality to it, I had caught him and now he was going to face the justice system and whatever consequences were deemed fair for his actions. Despite knowing that I would see him again in court, the chase was over, and things would never be the same again.

*******

It was tedious going through the process of the justice system… I knew what the outcome was going to be, so why couldn’t we get on with it already? Okay, I really knew that the situation had to go through its processes and the gears of justice often grind slowly, but still, I was getting impatient.

There were the days spent in a cell reviewing information for my next operation. The court sessions spent doodling or drawing Peter… and other people in the court room from time to time. Then the day finally came for my sentence to be delivered.

The room was quiet. Peter was sitting as close to having a front row seat for my sentencing as possible. Finally, the judge spoke in an authoritative voice as he declared that I had been convicted of bond forgery and due to my skills at evading capture, I was sentenced to four years in maximum security.

The court room seemed to feel that the sentencing was just, but then I looked at Peter and he didn’t seem as happy as I expected. “ _Why?”_ I knew that I wasn’t actually going to be serving my time, but it wasn’t like Peter had connected that I was his acquaintances from so many identities before… had he? Then I was led out a side door on my way to the bus that was going to transport me to prison.

*******

Sitting in the front of the court room, I wanted to be close to the action to see what happened with the sentencing. Still, I wasn’t expecting the location that he was to serve his time… I mean maximum security for a White Collar criminal? I know full well how hard he was to catch, I’m the one who caught him after all, but did he seriously need to be thrown in with the most dangerous criminals?

Suddenly I wanted to see him one more time before he went away. It was like there was this feeling like he was going to be killed. I don’t know why. It’s not like being in prison is more dangerous than being out on the streets pulling stupid stunts and ever increasingly daring heist. Really, he should be safer in prison with guards, set boundaries, and a system designed to ensure that the inmates served their times safely. But no matter how much I tried to make the feelings of foreboding go away, they were stuck with me.

Being the arresting agent, it was easy to arrange for one last meeting before Caffrey was transported off to prison.

I could see the surprise on Caffrey’s face when I walked through the door and requested a moment to speak with him before he was transported. “Peter?”

“Don’t you mean Agent Burke?” I gave him a look that should have had him cowering in his disrespect, but this was Caffrey… who was I kidding! Instead he smirked at me and said, “Agent Burke?” in a tone that had the imagination filling in the air quotes.

Frowning at him again, I decided to give up as I saw that it wasn’t going to change anything. He could see his triumph and looked like the cat that had swallowed the canary, so I decided to make one final statement on the topic. “I prefer if you call me Agent Burke, we aren’t friends for you to call me Peter, the only reason that I am giving up at the moment is because I only have five minutes and there was something that I wanted to say.”

He was still running with his humor as he said, “We aren’t friends? After all we have been through? You wound me!”

“Cut the theatrics Caffrey! You shouldn’t be acting this cavalier… you’re going to prison in a maximum security facility with the most dangerous criminals in the system… and for four years! Is it impossible for you to be serious, to see what your actions are doing with your life?” I was trying to get through to him, to tell him that I wanted him to be careful without actually having to say the words.

Chuckling. _He thinks this is amusing! He laughs at spending four years in super max?_ Then he responded to my question. “Peter, I gave you the pieces to know who I am. You haven’t put them together, so I don’t expect you to fully understand. Still, there is more to me than you would expect, and I am not afraid. I knew this day was coming from the very beginning… and there is a reason that I still chose this path. At one time, I promised you a game, and although the game has begun, it still isn’t over. This is simply an interlude to the progress of thisportion of the story and while the next chapter has us going in separate directions, I think there is reason to believe that we will meet up again… perhaps in another chapter or maybe for just a page. Until next time Peter, take care of yourself, I want to see how the rest of the game goes!” He was part serious, part mysterious, and part humorous. It was like trying to get the truth from a kid who chose to impart it in riddles and stories. Where did the truth begin and the fanciful stuff end?

_I never promised Caffrey a game, what does he mean by that?_ “You never promised me a game, unless the sucker was supposed to be some kind of dare? Is that how you see all of this? You run all over the world pulling heist and doings stupid things, and you think that it is a game?” I was incredulous at how he seemed to perceive the world and his actions.

With a shake of his head, he acted like he was hitting his head against the wall trying to get his point a crossed to me. “No Peter. First, yes I did promise you a game and no it wasn’t the sucker… although that was a nice touch if I do say so myself.” He simply smirked at my glare. “No, I don’t see all of this as a game… just you chasing me. I won’t go into all the aspects of that right now though.” Now he was definitely laughing at me and it was hard to keep my temper with him acting this childish. “Seriously though, Peter I don’t see life as a game. It is a struggle, a challenge, a story, and sometimes we are lucky enough to see the fun in that. There is always more to the page than just the words. So maybe I just want to look at the gaps and read the words later.”

_“Now that didn’t make sense… “_ What does that mean Caffrey?” I didn’t want to unravel his riddle and I was running out of time.

Dropping the humor, Caffrey simply looked at me and answered. “I know that life isn’t easy Peter. There are a lot of people on both sides of the law that don’t like me and I am going to max security prison for four years. Despite the safety regulations, there is not a guarantee that I won’t get hurt and I know that you are aware of that. You have been trying to tell me to be careful in your own way and despite you not wanting to admit it, there is a form of… well, not quit friendship… but perhaps the building blocks that could become friendship. A mutual respect and admiration I guess. When I look at you, I see you as an upstanding agent whom I can depend on to do the right thing no matter the cost; and when you look at me, you see a criminal who helped you catch other criminals, who sent you cards to remind you of your anniversary, and who dressed up as a delivery guy to stand in the snow to bring you coffee on a cold winters night. There is nothing wrong with me enjoying messing with you at the moment because we both know that I allowed you to catch me, and even though it is time for me to go serve my time… there is always the possibility of something else another day. Maybe I can send you some inside information…”

After that, I couldn’t help but say what I decided to. “Take care of yourself Caffrey, and if you ever want to give me a call… and not just for ’inside information’ either.” I handed the Marshal my card for Caffrey to have later. With that the two people left the side room and I was left watching them get on the bus.

*******

My stay in prison was short… like record short. I walked into building and was processed. After that point it was the trip out to my cell, setting my cell up to look lived in, recording a few security tapes to show that I was in fact in prison… and I walked back out.

Returning to my Bryce Larkin identity, I was off on a new mission.

*******

With Caffrey in prison, it was time for me to put his case behind me and move on. At work the file was closed, the information was removed from the conference room, and all of the evidence was logged before disappearing into a warehouse.   Home was another story though. I took the cards along with the various pieces of memorabilia and placed them in a small box in the attic.

Then I discovered something.

Sitting at home at the end of the first week, I couldn’t help but think about Caffrey. I had finally caught him after three long years of chasing him. Really, he was right. It was kind of an International game of cat and mouse… “ _He did mention that he promised me a game… and Jayden promised me a game of International cat and mouse… could it be? No, it must just be a coincidence. I was looking for a game with a dark haired, blue eyed man, and then a man fitting that description just happens to be the criminal chase of a lifetime… It had to be a coincidence!_ Now the kid is sitting in his cell in maximum security… I hope he doesn’t get himself killed… I wonder what he will do when he gets out?

That was when I realized that I would remember Neal Caffrey even long after his case is closed, his sentence is up, and life has gone on… he was an unforgettable criminal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to those who have taken the time to review, leave kudos, follow, and favorite the story :D
> 
> Also, for those that I haven't thanked, thank you for following me and choosing me as a favorite author :D


	8. Mysterious Benefactor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even though I no longer had a direct role to play in Peter's life… I still watched over him. (Alternating perspectives).

*******

It had been nearly two years since Peter had put me away. After I walked out of prison there was the final meeting with Director Graham before I was off to start my new role as Bryce Larkin “Traitor.”

Along the way I was given a mission to gain entrance into a building before stealing the data base located within. Orion met with me again in order to give me instructions on how to steal the Intersect while I reassured him that I did in fact have a plan of what to do with the Intersect to keep it out of the hands of Fulcrum. (Obviously I never told Orion what that plan was as he would never approve of me sending it to his son).

Still, Chuck was the best plan that I could come up with. He had the brain to handle it, I knew he would do the right thing to protect it, and there was the likely hood that his father would show up introducing him to the reality of his father and the heritage that he came from. It was the least that I could do really. Chuck deserved to know that his father was a good man and since I knew that I was likely to die, who else could I entrust so many lives too?

When I was recovered alive, the hardest part of it all was seeing Chuck’s fear of me in the elevator. He really thought that I was a threat to him, that I might actually hurt him! Then there was his hatred of me. After everything that I had done to him… well, I deserved his hatred, but that didn’t make it hurt any less. I was relieved when Chuck was at least willing to help me clear my name. The flash on “Sandwall” meant that he knew the truth, and he took on the challenge of convincing the others that I was clean.

Later when I had to go, I could tell that Chuck was a mix of relief and sadness. He was relieved to see that I was no longer going to be the awkward part of the current picture, but he still wanted to settle things with me and our friendship. I could tell that our friendship had been severely damaged, but there was also a glimmer of hope, the possibility that it could be repaired with understanding and forgiveness.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the time to be settling those old feuds so we went our separate ways with the hope of another day.

*******

Back in the field, I found myself scoping out trouble in a bank that I just happened to pass during a robbery. Upon further inspection of the situation I discovered that the FBI was involved and looking to handle the situation. The problem was that the FBI was unaware of the perpetrators carrying heavy explosives and their apparent plan to blow everyone up before they would be caught. This was a bad situation made worse by the discovery that one of the agents involved was none other than my mentor and friend Peter Burke.

Seeing impending death, I couldn’t help but get involved. That led me to the next problem, how? The CIA is more for International Espionage than preventing a local robbery so I had no jurisdiction. Then there was my cover. I couldn’t be recognized for any of my identities by Peter. So, how could I personally get involved?

Then I got an idea. (Really, it came from a lifetime of comic book reading, but still, it was my decision to utilize it in real life). I could be the faceless hero, a sort of vigilante, who drops in to protect Peter and the others who are otherwise about to face a fiery demise.

Removing my over shirt, I am standing in all black clothing. Sleeking my hair back into a strange style (for me) and throwing on my sunglasses is sufficient in hiding who I am for this brief trip. A pair of gloves finishes the ensemble and I am ready to go.

Entering the bank from the roof, I hit the perps by surprise. With a tranquilizing gun and darts it is a matter of moments before I have all of the men down and unconscious. Dropping into the room, I startled the hostages who stared at me with terrified looks as they wonder what horror was about to befall them from this “man in black.” Using nothing but hand gestures, I endeavored to calm them down while I inspect the men’s gear. Another few minutes and the bombs were all disengaged and the situation had been cleared.

Before leaving, I decided to leave a message. Walking over to the pile of discarded cell phones, I picked a random model. Pulling up the text screen I put the address as being to Peter Burke and texted a message (without pressing send). “I was passing by when I noticed the situation. The bombs have been disengaged and the perps are all secure. Sorry I couldn’t stick around and chat.” Dropping the phone onto the bombs I quickly left the room as SWAT raided from several points of entry.

Peter wasn’t going to be happy with a vigilante possibly getting involved, but he (like the rest) would be relieved that no one was injured in what could have been a fatal disaster.

*******

Some people believe in guardian angels. Personally, I have a human protector who runs around dressed in black. The first time that I became aware of someone hiding behind the scenes and ensuring my safety was with a bank robbery.

Everything seemed to be going the same as any bank investigation on the surface. We were all following the protocols for handling such situations, yet I had this feeling in my gut that things were not all as they appeared. It was like a feeling of impeding danger, like we were all going to die. Then the feeling simply went away and I couldn’t explain it.

When the smoke cleared and the hostages were safe, we began to do an investigation into why the robbers were all unconscious and neatly bound, lined up in a row. Then when the bomb squad checked into their explosives, they discovered that everything had been diffused making the situation rather safe.What was going on? Finally, another agent called my name and directed my attention to a phone. The message was addressed to me and simply read ‘I was passing by when I noticed the situation. The bombs have been disengaged and the perps are all secure. Sorry I couldn’t stick around and chat.’

The witnesses all gave their individual statements, but they all had the same things to say in description of the ‘man in black.’ He was tall, had dark hair sleeked back, dark sun glasses, a black outfit, and black gloves. There was a gun that shot those little darts in his back waist band and he utilized a small pack of tools to defuse the bombs before jumping behind the teller counter for bindings to use on the robbers. When the situation was secure he grabbed the phone and left a message before leaving. Everyone admitted to be scared of him to begin with, but he had used hand gestures and his actions to at least relieve them of the worst of their fears.

Who was this, why did he seem to randomly show up and prevent the disaster, why not follow protocol, and finally, why did he leave a message but no way to know who he was?

I was grilled by several agents all wanting to know the answers to these questions but I could only guess at best. Our mysterious benefactor remained a mystery and the case was otherwise solved easily with the perpetrators already secured and the evidence intact.

*******

The second time that I utilized my new “man in black” identity was during a mission. Our operation was watching a warehouse when I noticed a lot of noise coming from another warehouse nearby. Leaving my team to do our job, I left off to investigate on my own. Approaching with caution, I discovered that Peter had been undercover when his operation had been blown. Help was on its way, but with the trouble that Peter was in, it wouldn’t arrive in time.

Since I was already dressed in black and preparing to do an assignment that included a little theft, I decided to utilize the same attire to rescue Peter. Stealthily, I moved until I was in a position where I could cover Peter, but I wouldn’t be easily discovered or vulnerable. Then I opened fire.

One moment Peter was struggling to keep them from surrounding him for the kill, the next he was peeking out of his cover to see a bunch of men laying around with darts sticking out of their necks.Looking around, he quickly spotted me.

I gave him a quarky salute as a greeting and disappeared before he could say anything. Returning to my team, I grabbed replacement clips of darts and went to work. We quickly accomplished our mission and returned to base with the other’s none the wiser as to why I had slipped off.

*******

It was another close call when the “man in black” came to my rescue again.

My cover role had taken me to a warehouse where I was currently standing alone with back up a few minutes out. It was never discovered how my cover was blown, but it was quickly obvious that it was when all guns pointed at me and began to fire. I quickly dived behind the nearest shelter and wished that I had a gun with me or anything to provide some means of protection. Since I was a sitting duck, it was only a matter of time before they found a means of killing me.

In an effort to buy enough time for backup to arrive, I began ducking and dodging behind crates with the hope that hiding would make me a more challenging target. It did little good as the group began to fan out in an array to cover more ground and remove my room for movement. I was as good as dead, trapped in the middle of a kill box. When I got down to my last position and there was nothing left for me, I hung my head for a moment and silently prayed that Elizabeth would be okay without me because it looked like she was going to have to go on without me shortly.

While I waited for a sudden plan to strike or death, which ever came first, I suddenly began to notice that the room was getting quieter. The sound of gun fire was settling down as one by one I could hear the gang grunt and thud as they dropped to the ground. When it had gone completely silent, I peered over the crate, which was practically decimated with bullet holes, to see no one left standing. As I moved to see better, I began to notice that each person had a dart sticking out of their necks. Now I had seen that before. It was just like the robbers of the bank.

Turning around, I was slightly surprised to actually see my rescuer. He looked almost exactly as he had been described before standing there in black with his hair pushed back and glasses covering his face. Although I couldn’t recognize him, there was a familiar feeling, like I knew him somehow. Instead of giving me time to question him, he simply smiled and threw me a quarky salute before disappearing.

I moved to follow him, cautious of further enemy fire, but I was too late. He disappeared into the growing dark and I never did find any more clues than last time.

After the second round, my mysterious benefactor began to get more elaborate nick names. First he was referred to as Johnny, in a Johnny Cash reference. Then that evolved into Johnny Black. It was short, easy, and carried a reference to his attire as well as giving him a name. Finally, he simply became Johnny in most conversations about him.

At the office he was joked as being my guardian angel Johnny while at home he was a fascinating mystery. Even though there was a lot of humor and mystery surrounding him, he was still my benefactor who kept saving my life. For this, El was eternally grateful and my team was more lenient in their opinions of him.

*******

I wasn’t trying to create a new persona in Peter’s life, but it seemed to be happening as I once again found myself anonymously coming to his rescue.

Peter had been abducted after a case had been successfully closed. It turned out that he had closed down someone’s cash flow and they weren’t happy. To get revenge, they decided to slowly kill him in order to be a lesson for those foolish enough to get in their way.

It was by accident that I happened to overhear some of the agents searching for Peter discussing how their hopes of finding him alive were dwindling as time passed. Knowing what kind of an agent Peter was, as well as having a friendship of sorts with him and his wife drove me into action again.

First, I began to do some poking around myself. I had learned a lot about investigating from my training and working with Orion, Peter, and Mozzie. It wasn’t hard to track down who was earning the cash in Peter’s last bust. Then I went to work trying to figure out where he would keep an abducted agent hidden. Finally, I cased out the place to discover its weaknesses and found proof that Peter was in fact being held prisoner there.

Next, I went through the process of anonymously tipping off the FBI in order to ensure an arrest while I went to make sure that Peter lived long enough to be rescued. He was in bad shape and only recognized that a “…man dressed in black rescued him” despite my showing my full face to him and talking. Since he was to out of it to remember, I ran the risk of him recognizing me. Besides, some of his injuries needed me to have a clear unhindered view in order to stop the worst of his bleeding. After I patched him up and gave him some water, I remain crouched by his side until I could hear the rescue team raiding the building. As I heard Agents Jones and Berrigan approaching, I told Peter that his team had arrived so he would be safe and I would check back on him later. In the meanwhile I needed to be leaving in order to keep from being recognized.

Finally, I waited until the visiting hours were up at the hospital to sneak into Peter’s room in order to ensure that he was in fact going to be okay. He was deliriously awake so I spoke to him for a moment and told him that he was safe and I was glad to see that he was okay. In response he muttered his question about why I didn’t want to be recognized. “Because, for reasons that I can’t state, it’s best that I remain anonymous for now. I have a cover role to keep and things to keep secret until when or if it is safe enough to surface without getting killed. My work has already technically gotten me killed once and I would like to keep those numbers down if I can help it.” He seemed to get upset by my statements so I soothed over the topic. “Don’t worry about that Peter. I am safe and keeping my anonymity just fine, but I do have to ask that you don’t search too hard into who I am as that won’t do either of us any good. Perhaps, in time I will be able to explain everything to you and the way that you have been my mentor for years. Until then it has to remain a secret about how much you have made me into the agent that I have become. For now, goodbye Peter. Take care of yourself and Elizabeth for me.”

With my parting words I slipped out of his hospital room and away into the night with an awareness that Elizabeth had spotted me and would check on Peter.

*******

Johnny struck again. This time he didn’t arrive before the trouble caused injury, but he did prevent me from being killed.

It was one of those cases where the bad guy goes down easy and the case appears to be over, then someone connected, but previously unknown about, comes seemingly out of nowhere to blindside you with an attack.

Things had quickly gone from me out walking Satchmo, to me being shoved into a van while my dog was tied the nearby fence. The events that followed rolled together as I was beaten and drugged intermittently as my captors pleased. Then eventually as I was reaching the end of my strength, I looked up to see Johnny crouched over me. I know that I saw his face and that he talked to me, but no matter how hard I try he is a distant voice and a blur. Finally my team rescued me and the last thing that I can remember is telling Jones that “Johnny… man in black rescued me” before blacking out.

When I came too, it was to the darkness of night in my hospital room. Movement quickly caught my attention and I realized that Johnny was in my room. This was the first time that I had actually been hurt as well as the first time that he had made a second visit (the two seemed to coincide for a reason). I watched as he seemed to be checking over my charts and relieved to see that I was going to be okay. Then he noticed that I was watching him so he talked to me and confirmed my belief that I was okay and he was relieved to know that.

I still don’t consciously remember our conversation, but at that moment I knew that he had talked to me so I asked him why he needed to keep his identity secret. He surprised me when he answered. “Because, for reasons that I can’t state, it’s best that I remain anonymous for now. I have a cover role to keep and things to keep secret until when or if it is safe enough to surface without getting killed. My work has already technically gotten me killed once and I would like to keep those numbers down if I can help it.” Although he mutter the last sentence, I still heard it and was concerned. Noticing my distress, he tried to get me to relax again. “Don’t worry about that Peter. I am safe and keeping my anonymity just fine, but I do have to ask that you don’t search too hard into who I am as that won’t do either of us any good. Perhaps, in time I will be able to explain everything to you and the way that you have been my mentor for years. Until then it has to remain a secret about how much you have made me into the agent that I have become. For now, goodbye Peter. Take care of yourself and Elizabeth for me.” With those parting words he was gone, like a black ghost he slipped out of my room and down the hall.

While I laid there thinking about his words, Elizabeth entered my room and was concerned as to what was going on. “Peter… you’re awake! Are you okay, he didn’t hurt you did he?”

It was a grating response due to my weak voice, but her reaction said that it was music to her ears. “I’m fine honey. That was Johnny making sure that I was okay. He’s an agent with a cover to protect for the safety of his life, but he knows us and is looking out for us when he can.”

She told me to relax as she was going to get a nurse in to check on me. Then she pushed the nurses call button and greeted me with a gentle kiss and hug while she waited for their response. When it was known that I was awake, the doctor on staff came to check me over before I was left to rest for the night.

As I recovered, I couldn’t help but wonder who this agent was that I had had such an effect on. Was it Jayden, his mysterious friend, or did Bryce join the CIA after all? Perhaps it was someone completely different that I hadn’t thought of. Regardless, he did have only one request in return for saving my life three times, and that was that I didn’t look too hard into who he was for his safety. Considering what he had done for me and the risk that it would cause him, it wasn’t too big of a request to comply with.

*******

There was a good gap in my appearances as the man who had become known as “Johnny.” The gap was caused by my being killed again, the process of being revived and recovered, and my return to Neal Caffrey. But eventually, there came up a situation where only an agent (this time not quit as anonymous as in previous situations) could handle it.

It turns out that my own father turned out to be the cause this time. He had murdered Senator Pratt in a form of revenge killing because they had both been dirty cops in the same precinct. The difference was that my father had done time for some of his crime while Pratt had gotten away clean only to climb the proverbial career ladder. Things had come to a head and Peter had been put into a positon where he looked guilty of a crime that he didn’t commit. Not to mention that my scoundrel father left him to be his fall guy!

Luckily, I knew about my father’s past crimes before going into the search. That was a fortunate discovery that came with being an agent and helped me to prevent things from being worse because I knew not to trust James. Due to my knowledge, I put a camera onto James’ coat that streamed full visual and audio back to a system that I kept in range as well as a tracking device to keep an eye on where he went.When he committed the murder, the evidence was safely recorded for posterity sake and after he had confronted me for the evidence, he was easily tracked down and arrested by one of our agents.

After that, all I needed was some evidence that the General provided about my supervisor being dirty, the evidence box that I had, as well as the other evidence and James. With my collection complete,I simply barged into an FBI meeting and presented all of my information. From there things were sorted into evidence, jail, or where ever the FBI felt was best suited for each item and situation. Peter was quickly cleared by my testimony and evidence, James’ was put away for good this time, our supervisor was under investigation, and a number of thirty year old cases were finally closed due to Ellen’s evidence. All in all I couldn’t complain.

*******

The final time that I know Johnny came to the rescue was when James Bennett left me hanging for Senator Pratt’s murder.

I had been arrested and put into jail until my trial with little hope that the case could ever be solved in a way that the right man ended up behind bars. But while I was moping in orange, Johnny Black was clearing my case.

Apparently it was safer for him to surface now as he walked into a meeting with the FBI and had a full chat with them. (The contents of the meeting have never been fully disclosed to me, but I have learned some of what transpired). I have heard that there was a meeting to decide how to handle the situation as there had been several lapses in judgment by my supervisor, I was arrested for murder, there was missing evidence, and a known dirty cop had disappeared into the wind. Then, barging through the doors came Johnny. He had video and audio evidence that James was in fact the murderer, there was agency speculations that my supervisor was dirty, the box of evidence was laid on the table, and Bennett was being held in custody awaiting transfer to the FBI holding cells. Needless to say the FBI had never had so many problems solved so easily. From there it was simply a matter of processing before Bennett was the one moping in orange, I was back home and taking my wife on our late date, our supervisor office was empty, and our cases were closed.

It was a whirlwind trip, but I have no regrets in it being short. That was definitely a situation that I had no desires to spend any more time going through it than necessary!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the continued support of those who have left kudos, reviewed, commented, followed, and chosen to favorite the story. I love getting your responses to my work and am glad that you enjoy my personal twists to the canon story line :D


	9. Official Partnerships

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I had nearly served my sentence when the General decided to change the plans. It was time for me to work with Peter in the field where I could be active and protected. (Most of the chapters will now be alternating perspectives to carry through Peter and Neal's thoughts).

*******

It was boring sitting in the middle of a cell. There was nothing but three walls, a barred door, bed, desk, and the bare necessities. My injuries had healed so I was simply waiting for my fate to be determined and the time was once again crawling.

The days turned into weeks and I truly learned what it was like to live in prison. One of the guards had decided that I was a problem so he gave me the evil eye every time I came into range. He tried to start trouble with me, but I managed to dodge his efforts each time. Then there were the prison gangs. I had to learn how to take my place in the prison. It was a balance between using my skills for my protection and keeping my skills hidden in order to avoid the other inmates from discovering that I was actually an agent undercover. With the challenges surmounted, that was when the General decided on my fate. (Figures doesn’t it, I get settled and it’s time to move again).

Apparently my fate was to go back to playing Neal. It wasn’t the worst future that I could have, but I wish I didn’t have to be stuck playing a criminal and lying to my best friend by letting him think that I was dead.

I was informed that the plan was for me to break out of prison under the guise of chasing Kate. My job was to back her up in her search for Adler and who was coming after her while keeping safely under Peter’s watchful eye in the protection of the FBI. The problems were that I had to get Peter to take me on as his CI and there was no guarantee that there weren’t any Ring or Fulcrum agents hidden in the FBI.

Moving things right along, I contacted Mozz and we began planning my escape. He was thrilled to hear that things were going to get back to “normal” even though he had no idea what that really meant.

Personally, I was looking forward to the possibility of working closely with Peter for a long term arrangement. Unless something came up to change things, this was going to be my life for the next four years.

*******

Life is full of annoyances. With three little numbers in representation of three little letters, our evidence literally exploded. The Dutchman once again kept us from catching him. Then to make a bad day worse, Diana told me that Caffrey had escaped.

Fortunately it didn’t take long to catch him.

A visit to the prison allowed me to get inside his head over the past four years. Caffrey had marked on the wall the days that had passed in a means of counting down until his escape, he had pamphlets for local businesses, a cassette player, and he had begun enacting his plan to escape when Kate had left him. Obviously his escape was centered on Kate and she would be the key to catching him… again.

Fortunately, I kept tabs on Kate’s movements just in case something like this happened.

Rounding up the teams we moved in for the arrest, but I wanted to be the first person to approach Caffrey. I knew he was nonviolent and simply trying to keep his girl. Still, he was a criminal no matter how personable he might be so I approached with caution.

Walking into the apartment,I stopped and stood by the kid. He was sitting despondently holding a bottle as he leaned against the support. The way he was languishing made him look young and sad.

It was hard to talk to him like this, but we had a short conversation anyways. Our conversation was a mix of mentor and student, cat and mouse, and there was an almost friendly banter to it as he commented on my suit. With a promise to see him in a week, the teams flooded the building and he was arrested again.

True to my word, I went to see Caffrey after an interesting week of watching the Canadian’s panic over their top secret information being in our hands and the supplies to forge their new money already on the criminal market. After sharing the amusement at the Canadian’s expense, we got into the purpose for out meeting.

Nothing could have prepared me for what Caffrey requested.

For me to take Caffrey on as my CI would be a huge undertaking of responsibility. I wasn’t fooled by his reasoning. All he wanted to do was utilize the opportunity to find Kate and escape to be with her leaving me with all of the trouble that his plan would cause. Who was he kidding, he had walked out of a top security building… what chance did a tiny anklet have at keeping him restrained?

When I left the prison, I had no intention of complying with his request, but my defenses were worn down until I agreed to take him on. I don’t know why, but something felt right about it in the end. The kid was the smartest person that I knew, he looked like the three young men that I pictured as being the combination of the perfect partner, and he was the perfect criminal. Why not work with the person who was standing right in front of me rather than hoping to someday get to work with the perfect person who doesn’t exist?

*******

Taking a deep breath, I stepped through the gate and lifted my pants cuff to show Peter the anklet. It was my first step into my new life and each step carried me further into my future. I was looking forward seeing what time would bring. Who knew, perhaps I would be lucky enough to be able to connect with Peter and maybe someday Chuck would be brought back into the picture. In the meantime, it was time to go for a ride with my new partner.

Riding with Peter was both comfortable and awkward. I have known the man for years and worked with him before so there was a familiarity to the situations, but this time I was a criminal that he didn’t trust so there was some tension in the air. He took me through the process of what was expected of me and took me to an old run down hotel to be my new home. Admittedly, I have been in worse places, but I had no desire to spend four years living in such accommodations.

After Peter left, I went to the thrift store to begin trying to get some belongings for my new life. That was where I had the unexpected fortune of meeting June. A chance meeting turned into a conversation which eventually became an offer of support. She took me back to her place and showed me the upstairs apartment. An agreement later had me set with a new wardrobe and apartment as well as a new friend who didn’t worry about my “history” as a criminal.

The next morning I got the perfect bonus of watching Peter’s disbelief. He didn’t understand how he could go from leaving me at a flea bitten place going to a thrift store for clothes in the evening to picking me up in a Devore suit at a mansion the next morning. His cracks about Cappuccino in the clouds and looking like a clown were also amusing signs of his frustration. Although it was fun to mess with him, I didn’t want to make things worse between us as he already had trust issues with my criminal role.

Riding into the office, I decided that I should keep things toned down as I learned how the office worked and got a feeling for how to incorporate myself into the group.

*******

I couldn’t believe it! How did he get dropped off at an incredibly cheap hotel, only to happen to worm his way into a wealthy woman’s heart and get up the next morning in a mansion apartment with a fancy new wardrobe?

The drive to work was a challenge for me as I really wanted to be frustrated with the kid and let him know just how much his good fortune irked me. But that wasn’t entirely fair of me. It was true, I had told him that if he could find a better place in his radius for seven hundred a month, then he should take it… and true to his history, Caffrey managed to find the most elegant possible place he could be lucky enough to get while fitting the specifications.

My biggest fear was that Neal would continue to find ways to work things out to his benefit in order to keep his chosen lifestyle. How long would it be before he was back to committing crime in order to keep that up? Luck, intelligence, and even hard work couldn’t necessarily keep him living in his lavish taste without something giving… and I doubted that it would be his taste when it came down to it. But what could I do?

As we pulled into the parking garage, I decided that I would simply have to do my best. There was nothing more that I could do than my all.

Walking into the building, my focus changed to working on getting Caffrey integrated into his new working environment. We had papers to fill out, security to get through, procedures to go over, and a lot more work.

For the first few days that was all that we did. We got started on the case against the Dutchman and we worked to get Caffrey settled.

Then the Dutchman got spooked by Caffrey’s investigation so our case got a ticking time clock. We had one week to solve a crime that I hadn’t been able to solve with a full team over the course of a few years.

It looked like our partnership wasn’t going to last the week.

*******

The ticking time clock didn’t help me try to figure out a way to solve the case as Caffrey. Fortunately, Peter had given me a big book about warrants which would cover how Caffrey would know about them, while I had years of practice working in the field with a full knowledge of their use. Rereading the book for the sake of my cover, I was struck with an idea.

I knew exactly where the Dutchman was hiding out at, what he was doing, and how he was going about it, the problem was that I couldn’t walk into the warehouse and arrest him… and neither could Peter. Or could he? If I were to be at the warehouse and stand outside of my radius I would be perceived as a fleeing suspect. That would mean that Peter could pursue me while visually seeing all of the evidence against the Dutchman! It would be a risk as I had no idea how Peter and the FBI would react, but I think it would be a lot easier than stealing the Intersect while undercover as a traitor…

*******

He didn’t even last a week before I was receiving the call from the Marshalls to inform me that Caffrey had skipped his radius and was on the run! Hurrying, I got dressed and grabbed my things.

Leading the team we arrived at Caffrey’s location and I couldn’t help but be relieved. His plan was to “flee” into the warehouse where I would have to pursue and see the evidence against the Dutchman. It would be a stretch, but a legal means of taking him down in the allotted time frame.

After joining Caffrey sitting on the desk, I found myself feeling that maybe he was a mix of all of the people that I wished to work with. He was intelligent, creative, and fun to work with even though he had the possibility of bringing criminal acts into play.

Perhaps I ought to set down some standards for him to live up to?

“Now get this straight Caffrey. I have standards that you will be measured against as they have been running through my mind for a long time. I’m not expecting you to meet them, no one has, but I would like you to know what is going on in my head.”

Intrigued he left me the opening to continue.

“Over the years I have met a series of young men that have each displayed certain qualities that I have since looked for in a partner. The first is intelligence, which you have plenty of. Then there is creativity, and I don’t mean creatively working around the law to gain you own ends, but rather the creativity to solve a problem in a unique manner while remaining within the law.Your way of handing the Dutchman situation borderlines on the first but manages to land in the second. Zeal for justice. That is one that you sort of meet, but perhaps in a skewed manner? A feeling of comradery. That is something that has its moments between us, and I hope that we can get there more often as we work together. Really, you are the perfect criminal in so many ways and almost the perfect partner in my mind. I hope to see more of the perfect partner utilizing his skills as the perfect criminal to solve crimes instead of committing them. It might be more fun to work with you than to chase you.”

Looking at him, Caffrey seemed to be rather surprised at my admittance to how I perceive him. I don’t know which part caught his attention more, or if it was a combination of the two. Either way, he didn’t seem to know what to say for a moment as he simply sat there digesting what I had to say.

Then he responded with more seriousness than I expected. “I’m surprised that you see me as almost fitting your perspective of a perfect partner. After all, we have spent so many years dancing around the truth while you looked to find me and I endeavored to evade you. Perhaps you have seen some of who I am through all of the games and the charades, or perhaps you are just looking for someone else. I guess time will tell. Still, I think that with a good partner… and time… I might be able to learn how to be more of a perfect partner.” Then he seemed to shake off his seriousness and misdirect from his admissions with a joking reference to my having called him the perfect criminal. “Until then, I guess I am just going to have to keep reminding you that I am the ‘perfect criminal’ in your own words!”

With a mental groan, I use my ‘boss’ voice to try and get my point a crossed. “Neal! I mean it. Working with the FBI isn’t shades of gray and justice may be blind, but the law isn’t designed to flex for one person or another. It isn’t perfect in execution, but the law is created to equalize all of humanity with a strict set of laws and punishment for those who break those laws. No one is above it and that includes you. You’re going to have to learn to play by the rules Neal, or this isn’t going to work.”

There is a look of respect in his eyes that he tries to mask, but I see it anyway and that gives me hope that maybe I am just seeing the real him through the lies. “I know Peter, and I think that I can do that. It may take time for me to adjust to a new set of rules, but I am certain that my partner can teach me.”

I can’t help but smile with him. He views me as his partner and he is willing to work with me to reach the right side of the law as well as the partnership that I would like for us. It is all that I would like out of this partnership… even if the back of my mind is once again trying to connect puzzle pieces as if he is telling me more than I am hearing.

*******

Amused, I can’t help but wonder if Peter is asking me to live up to standards set by his previous meetings with myself. If so, I am pretty certain that those qualities will shine through as it is impossible to entirely play Caffrey in an environment so close to what I had once envisioned as my future. Still, I can’t tell Peter that, so I continue to communicate with the distant reaches of his conscience in a way he doesn’t seem to consciously connect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for those who have taken the time to review and express their interest by following the story :D


	10. Work in Progress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The years seemed to fly by. It seemed that every time I turned around we were facing another challenge and my relationship with Peter was going through the ringer again… But somehow, we kept our friendship as our partnership triumphed again and again.

*******

You just have to love how some cases start out.

One of the cases that had the most surprising start was the “Book of Hours.” Agents Cruz and Jones were simply doing surveillance when Leo Barelli approached to ask for help in recovering his church’s Bible.To say the least, it wasn’t normal for the FBI to receive cases from the criminal that they are investigating, but conventional or not, that is how we got it and what happened during the case is what made it special.

Peter and Hughes agreed to take on the case if Barelli shut down one of his illegal operations... which he agreed to do so that they could look into his legit restaurant business, after Thursday of course.

When I was brought into the case I conferred with Mozzie and we came up with the theory that the healing Bible was taken by a true believer in order to heal someone. It was a logical theory, but really it just turned out to be the motive for the thief to steal the Bible while the commissioner of the crime had other ideas.

When Paul Ignazio tuned up murdered at the docks, we ended up having to work with Agent Ruiz and the Organized Crime Division. He made no attempts to keep his dislike for me secret, in fact his distrust had Hughes mentioning the fact the Ruiz wasn’t the only person who had reservations about trusting me with evidence.The irony is that I have protected the Intersect and the Nation’s most valuable secrets. Still, Peter trusted me enough to let me borrow his FBI jacket despite the risk of either myself or Mozzie impersonating an agent.

Despite the show of faith, I know that Peter struggled to trust me through the case. Especially when I had to pretend to be playing the FBI and cut my anklet for real. He didn’t think that I would notice the ratty old lucky tie… but really, I’m trained to notice the little things. It’s now my goal to keep him from pulling out the old lucky tie if I can help it.

The anxiety level rose when Maria shot the book in her effort to kill me while the FBI sped into the rescue. It was a relief to hear Peter make sure that I was okay and give me assistance in getting up.

I did have to be sneaky in literally passing the book to Mozzie right behind Peter’s back, but as it was for a good cause, I figured that he would forgive me in the long run.As expected, Ruiz confronted me and accused me of trying to steal the Bible while Peter figured me out in the background. We took a quick trip to the church and Barelli took care of Lucy which left the case settled on good terms.

While Peter and I were leaving, I couldn’t help but put in a few more jibes at his expense, but like any good friend, he enjoyed the verbal play.

*******

Going through some of my favorite cases, I couldn’t overlook the Pink Diamond case.

What made this case so interesting to me was the fact that whomever was going after Kate, decided to go after me, and caused a situation that advanced my friendship with Peter.

Initially, I was only intrigued by the crime. Neal Caffrey would have loved to pull something like this off, so I had to portray the character as being excited to solve it… and why wouldn’t he be? After all, cases that involve big diamonds tend to have people with big plans, so I was hoping that they would happen to have big creativity as well in order to pull off those big plans. Why would that be good for me as an undercover agent? Because, I enjoy fun and challenging cases of course!

Going through the process of solving the case, it didn’t take long to discover that the visiting OPR Agent Fowler had an alternate agenda. He kept prodding at Peter and questioning into details pertaining to myself. That wouldn’t be surprising as an agent checking into an agent/criminal team, but there seemed to be something more to it than that.

Being an agent undercover with more enemies than I care to count, numbering both amongst the criminals and hidden traitors midst the agents surrounding me, I tend to be paranoid about those gut instincts where I felt that something didn’t feel quite right.

That feeling was justified when Fowler approached Peter with “evidence” that proved that I had forged the diamond before stealing the original.

Knowing that I hadn’t forged the piece or stolen the necklace (had nothing to do with committing the crime really), I knew that Fowler was involved with something crooked. The question was where he ranked in the arrangement. If he was the leader, then I needed to figure out who he led and how to take them down. On the other hand, if he was only a follower, then taking him down was like poking a snake with a stick. It might be annoying, but it only drew attention to me from the snake while doing nothing to alleviate the danger.

Then I was ironically freed when Peter arrested me. He was kind enough to reduce my embarrassment by covering the cuffs with his jacket, but there was still the personal pain of having my mentor believe falsified evidence over the word of a person who was as honest with him as possible. It was understandable that he trusted evidence over the word of a criminal, but he didn’t even try to second guess the evidence for the validity of its accuracy.

With nothing left to do in the office and Peter standing with his belief in my guilt, I decided to go in my own direction and solve the crime with or without Peter’s assistance.

Working with Mozzie, I created an interestingly simple escape plan. It was as easy as leaping out the window, land with a bounce, roll, drop, and give a shrug to Peter who simply stood staring at me. As I hurried away, I knew that Peter had doubt of my guilt because he didn’t do anything to stop me. He simply stood looking at me in an understanding way as he realized on some level that I was innocent and going to prove it. His only fear was that he might be wrong in that feeling.

My first move was to check in with my bosses to see what information had been compiled on the situation. When that failed, I returned to my mentor and the plan to work with him on any situation that happened to arise during our partnership.

I think Peter was pleased when he discovered that I had used his wife’s assistance to enter into his home as an escaped convict to potentially implicate him as aiding and abetting me. Not that those reasons made him happy, but that fact that I didn’t run away from him. Instead I ran to him.

We worked to clear my name and we regained our lost ground in the process while gaining some new ground in our bond as partners.

*******

One of the cases that I didn’t like was that stupid treasure. It was pretty, but as it often goes with such circumstances, it caused more trouble than it was worth!

When the treasure was first stolen, I had no idea what had happened but I got to take all of the blame anyway. There were the accusations, the lie detector test in the middle of the night, and a lot of anger and distrust from Peter and the others.

(I have to admit that that hurt. It seems that my luck in being accused of crimes that I didn’t commit while bearing the weight of my closest friend’s hatred for something that I didn’t do continues…)

Eventually, Mozzie decided to share with me that he had stolen the treasure. His first move was to show me that the treasure had in fact been stolen (something that I hadn’t been able to prove or disprove). Then he tested my loyalties by waiting to see what my reaction was before he announced that the thief was him. When time had passed without me notifying the feds (FBI anyway) he decided to step out and admit to his actions.

Over the course of the investigation, Mozzie tried to gain my loyalty to run away, Peter and the team tried to prove me guilty while feeling upset at the prospect of my guilt, and I played the role of my cover while secretly tagging each item to do a little fishing into the sea of criminals later. It was a bumpy ride with friendships tested and loyalty stretched to the limit.

Then Keller became the deciding vote by abducting Elizabeth. She was the key to getting all three of Peter, Mozzie, and I to put our differences aside and work together.

That part of the case was introduced to me when I went to tell Peter everything that had been going on. (The facts that I had personal interests to stay on Peter’s good side and that my cover put him as my protector of sorts did have their parts to play in my choice). As I walked up to the house I found myself trying to grab any clues as to what had transpired. There wasn’t an ambulance so no one was hurt, Peter was giving orders so he was physically okay, but Elizabeth was nowhere to be seen or heard so I feared she was the reason for the response. Peter’s growled “He took my wife” was all I needed to know in order to fill in the blanks.

I can’t blame him, but I didn’t like the feeling of Peter slamming me up against the side of his house with his full fury pointed directly at me with the assurance that he was done with me… My relationship with my favorite mentor went up in smoke for something I didn’t do but played along with to keep my cover. After that it didn’t matter what it took, I would blow cover if need be to get Elizabeth back safely.

Things blurred together for awhile as I took Peter to the warehouse where the treasure had been, attempted to contact Mozzie, and set up a plan to take on Keller. It helped that I had my official resources to secretly fall back on, but I couldn’t be open to the office or Mozzie that I was using level 6 clearance CIA resources to keep my cover while working to take care of our current problem.

When Mozzie returned, the plan became getting the treasure, using it to distract Keller, rescue Elizabeth, and take Keller down. The first three parts went off well as we had a good team handling the situation, but the last part had me blowing my cover a little.

Fighting Keller wasn’t difficult as I can take a hit, but I couldn’t run the risk of allowing him to possibly hurt Peter. Grabbing Peter’s gun, I took aim, and fired. Caffrey doesn’t like guns so it was a puzzle to Peter how he could shoot an impossible shot, but as I have had serious training since I was a kid it is only a difficult shot to be done with care. The action assured that I would need to be coming up with a story as to why I was so good with a gun despite being so adamantly set against them. I guess the best story is the truth, to a point. If Peter pushes for an answer to the question, I’ll tease him with the story of when I wished to be a heroic cop. Should it come to that, I couldn’t wait to watch the reactions as Peter heard that story.

In the end of the treasure portion of trouble, Keller took the blame for stealing the treasure (I called in a favor to make sure he was instructed to do that), Mozzie admitted to Peter some of what all had transpired, and Peter decided to give me another chance.

*******

Unfortunately, after the situation with the treasure was generally put behind us, we had to deal with the fall out that had already been put in motion. Agent Kramer wanted to use my skills to improve his ratings in the FBI while protecting Peter from the perceived trouble that I would cause in his life.What Keller didn’t count on was Peter’s desire for justice and the injustice of using any means to get me permanently trapped in DC. (General Beckman might have enjoyed the perk of having me closer to hand, but I prefer New York personally).

It was an interesting turn of events when Kramer decided to go after me. He started with his efforts to undermine Peter’s and my relationship by trying to turn Peter’s perspective of me back to where he thought of me as a criminal instead of as a friend (“Once a con, Always a Con”).Then he turned his efforts on me as he tried to persuade me that Peter didn’t think of me as his partner, but rather as a resource. He tried to damage my perspective of Peter so that I saw him as just another FBI agent trying to get ahead in his career. Little did Kramer know what I had witnessed over the years, so although I played along, I never fell for his ploys.

When Kramer failed to dismantle Peter’s and my friendship, he turned up his efforts to take me down with my alleged crimes. In order to get more personal evidence about my history, he took my correspondence with Kate. He was hoping to find where I had hidden the Raphael and he was on the right track, but he didn’t anticipate just how much my friends would be willing to help me evade his attempts at capture.

After learning Kramer’s angle of attack, Sarah helped to put a cover story together and Peter extended my radius to help me retrieve the Raphael before Kramer could get to it.

During the process of evading Kramer, Peter wished to ask his questions, but I couldn’t answer them. (That would mean disclosing my secrets about being an undercover agent with a legal reason for hiding a “stolen” painting with a former cop in Wit-sec). Fortunately, I didn’t have to do anything to evade the conversation as Diana called Peter to inform him that Kramer was waiting for us when we would land. To Peter’s utter surprise, I simply climbed out and leapt to the other tram as it passed. (Needless to say those passengers were rather shocked at my actions as well).

Landing, Diana turned up to give me a ride just when I was trying to find a way to reach the Sterling and Bosch office ahead of Kramer. While we were communicating with Peter and racing through the city, I introduced her to my game. She couldn’t believe that I was turning evading the FBI into a game of “I Spy the FBI,” even though she had to admit that it had an amusing connotation to it. Still, she found herself playing along with me in an effort to evade the main element of Kramer’s team so that I would have the chance to enter the office before getting arrested again.

Reaching the office, we came together for a confrontational meeting with Peter, Sara, her boss, and I following through with the cover story while Kramer fumed and ranted at us for our efforts.

In retaliation, Kramer drummed up charges like “Public Safety” to get my commutation hearing revoked and as a means of getting me trapped in DC. It was annoying how he kept finding new angles of attack as we overcame his previous efforts, but that was what made him a formidable opponent.

Peter, being the classic “good guy,” refused to sit back and allow me to be cheated out of my freedom in order to increase the ratings of another agent with an agenda (his mentor brought in by him no less). To give me a chance when there was no other option, Peter signaled me to run.

This caused a chain of reactions that took the ecstatic Mozzie and me away on an extended vacation to the island. (Little did anyone know that I was in contact with Beckman and under orders to be on the lookout for work as Mozzie was now using the treasure and drawing attention).

Meanwhile, Peter was working to find me ahead of Kramer and the bounty hunter Collins. Ellen gave Peter the key to finding me and with the help of Jones and Diana, he did.

It came as a bit of a surprise to see Peter arguing with Collins at the local bar, so I decided to get him away for a private conversation. Luckily, that was as easy as having my little friend steal his wallet while I hid behind the door. Peter was thrilled to see me, and I was secretly no less happy myself. After all, working with Peter was a long standing goal and less awkward than working with Chuck and the old team.

With our current situation on the island, we had to be very careful. We did run into some difficulties despite our efforts, but that led to a strange situation… Peter singing. Now I had known Peter for a long time, but that was a first for me. While Mozzie and I both stared at him in confusion, Peter started to explain about one of the top five criminals in the world,Rob MacLeish.

It turned out that we had chosen his island as a hiding place which brought the FBI into his neighborhood. Working together, we came up with a plan that took MacLeish down, got me clear passage back to New York, and got both Kramer and Collins off of our backs. (Of course Beckman had a hand in everything coming together so easily in the governmental ranks, but if she hadn’t, I might have spent the rest of my life on the run from the FBI).

*******

There is one series of events that I am particularly ashamed of due to who it involved and what happened.

My personal life went a little crazy after Ellen was killed. While I was growing up she was the “aunt” who held me when I hurt, picked me up when I fell, and at least tried to direct me in the way that I should go. When I struggled to handle a problem I could always go to her for help and reassurance, but one day she was suddenly gone and the support I could always rely on was gone too.

Noticing my inner turmoil, Peter, Mozzie, and the others tried to help me but they couldn’t entirely understand. Mozzie had never known his parents and Mr. Jeffries was fine while Peter’s parents were either a phone call or a short drive up state away.

To make my situation less comfortable, there was the mystery man on the scene. “Sam” suddenly showed up at Ellen’s funeral but refused to come into contact with anyone. Utilizing my company resources I discovered that the Sam that Ellen had associated with in relation to her old days on the force was dead… so who was this “Sam?” While Peter and I worked to make contact and find information on the FBI side, I worked behind the scenes and discovered that this not Sam was in fact an imposter playing the real Sam… but why?

What would cause someone to impersonate a dead cop to keep in contact with a former cop, and act like they are going to make contact with the son of a cop? The biggest secrets that would tie the three people would be something in relation to my dad’s old crimes, but that case was never fully solved and I knew nothing in my cover while only having file based knowledge that I couldn’t share in reality. There wasn’t any understandable reason for why this person seemed to be interested in sneaking closer to me, so I made my report and waited for orders on how to proceed. Per her usual method, the General ordered me to go along with situation until I could gain more information, while being cautious of course.

The next part that I strongly disliked was where Peter and I were put undercover to work the stock trading case with Eric Dunham. Between not Sam stirring up unrest, Peter having run Ellen’s name causing her death, and the distrust once again filling the air, we had a bitter fight. Not only did we share shouted words, but there were physical punches exchanged that ended with him knocking me out. I admit that the physical punches switching from choreographed to real was due to my temper, but after discovering that the mentor and surrogate father figure that I had looked up to for over a decade had caused the surrogate mother figure who had raised me to be killed, I lost it. My training, respect for Peter, and my control of myself all flew out the window and it scared me how easily it did.

This time it was Peter trying to repair the damage to our friendship but I felt that perhaps it would be better if I keep my personal life separate from him. After all, it was his effort to protect me personally that caused the biggest loss in my personal life that I have ever experienced.

Thinking about how things were falling apart with Peter caused me to think about Chuck more than I had in a long time. Was this how he felt after I had supposedly betrayed him for my own gain? I think that is a matter of opinion as I killed Chuck’s future while Peter killed my past, how could that possibly be comparable? Still, Chuck forgave me because my actions were driven by a desire to protect him… but it took him time and last I knew he hadn’t fully put our past behind him. For that matter, I still haven’t either. Perhaps that past will remain unresolved, but Peter is still in my life so we can work through this, it’s just going to take time to rebuild.

After I came to that conclusion things started picking up again. It was easier to open up to Peter’s effort to reconcile and he was pleasantly surprised to realize that I was forgiving him. My acceptance of his efforts lead to conversations and slowly but surely we rebuilt our relationship again.

Then my father made another appearance in my life like a giant wrecking ball…

Although not Sam had remained a mystery man, I never even guessed who he actually turned out to be. It wasn’t until Peter showed me the blood test that I knew for certain that the imposter was in fact my own father. That brought on a whirl of emotions as suddenly I found myself having to face my demon, the man who made me wonder if I would ever turn out to be a corrupt agent like he was a corrupt cop. I tried to keep inspirational people like Ellen, Chuck, and Peter around to give me someone to aspire to, a role model … but was that enough to counter balance the evil that ran in my blood? After all, there are divisions of the science field that have made huge strides towards being able to identify the genetic defects that leave mankind corrupted and have proven that bad decisions do leave genetic deep markers on the next generation. This wasn’t a problem that I could solver overnight or take to Peter, so I pushed it back into the peripheral again and pressed on, there was work to be done.

The cases came, were solved, and put back on the shelf. As we worked, little pieces of what was going on came out and things turned dangerous. With Peter lying injured in the hospital and Elizabeth’s frightened eyes requesting me to lie to Peter in order to keep him out of this, I did. I didn’t want to lie as a result of my efforts to be honest with Peter, but I didn’t want him endangered either, so I fell back on the “as possible” part of my personal goal. Besides, I’m a trained and experienced agent with two full agencies backing me if someone wants a war so it’s not like I’m refusing all help.

Working from separate angles again, we progressed to find the location of the evidence box. When it came time to retrieve it, we ended up working together with James, Mozzie, Sara, and each other to avoid Senator Prat and his accomplices. It didn’t work. James killed Prat, Peter was arrested for the murder, and I faced off with my father over the evidence.

Luckily I didn’t trust James so I slipped a button camera on his jacket which caught everything for posterity’s sake. In addition, it had GPS so it wasn’t hard for a team to pick him and take him into custody. A little work as “Johnny Black” to Peter while being “Agent Bryce Larkin” through the legal system and I had Peter’s name cleared easily enough.

With James rightfully in prison, Peter puzzling over how his name was cleared, and myself working to keep all of my secrets… things got back to where they should have been.

******

The last big series of cases where I worked as Neal Caffrey were, as usual, full of secrets.

Peter and the team were certain that I had cheated the system to gain Peter’s freedom. (That was probably the most painful show of distrust on Peter’s part in our whole working relationship). Then again, if I had actually cleared his name the way he thought, I would have slapped him in the face with everything that he believed in.

Once again, Peter and I found ourselves working in different means for the same goal… justice. Peter worked with the FBI to make sure that each case was closed with the guilty behind bars while hoping that the guilty party wouldn’t show up to include me. Meanwhile, I had to coordinate everything that I did through the agencies and get greenlights for every little action in order to remain on the right side of legal while I did my job.

I knew that Hagen wasn’t the only person involved because the CIA had information proving that a former MI5 agent was around and probably the person pulling Hagen’s strings. The problem was proving her involvement and keeping anyone from getting hurt while letting her assume that I was just the criminal that she was playing to her own ends.

This meant that I had to go along with every crime and take every risk until I could find the strings connecting her to the situation. Then I discovered that she was just another link in the chain and the people that had hired her were actually going to be the big problem.

It turned out that the “powers that be” for this particular group had terroristic connections with big plans for the big diamond. (Remember when I said that I like creative characters with big plans for big diamonds, well, I didn’t mean this variety).

Anyway, the General ordered me to gain a connection to the people behind the scenes, but that had already been accomplished by ensuring that they would never get the diamond that they were after. Their reaction was to abduct me, which was a bad choice really. After all, Bryce Larkin had a reputation for being a legendary spy who specialized in taking on the big and dangerous, and I just happened to be Bryce Larkin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the reviews and the kudos :D
> 
> This story will be winding down through the last four chapters over the next few weeks and then we will be on to a new story. Next I plan on posting one of my White Collar only one shots listed below and if any of you readers are interested in choosing which one is posted first I would be happy to hear your suggestions.
> 
> -"The Painting Project" inspired by many stores of Neal doing a home painting project with the Burkes.  
> -"Neal What ?!?" randomly inspired by my hamster Nevada so it's not a normal fic...


	11. The Pictures Connect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eventually the time came when Peter began to connect the dots to who I really was. After all, Danny was just a matter of time. (Peter gets to tell how he discovers Neal's secret number one :D).

*******

It took me years to figure it out. I mean, why did Neal Caffrey remind me so much of the seventeen year old Danny that I had only met once for a few hours? Then again, why did Danny stick with me to a point that I could still remember him more than a decade later?

For some reason Neal always reminded me of the emotional, physical, and mental comparisons to Danny. After all, he is brilliant, zealous, dark haired, blue eyed, and something in the back of my mind often seemed on the verge of understanding why these things all seemed to matter, but Neal always made sure to distract me before I could make the connection.

*******

The first tangible fact that I could compare the two persons with was fathers during the Burma diamond case.

I was walking down the street talking to Neal about fathers when he dropped the bomb on me. He was the son of a cop! The revelation left me flabbergasted as I stood slack jawed on the sidewalk trying to piece together an internationally renowned criminal with a law enforcement father.

Then I focused back on the world to discover that Neal was walking down the street ahead of me and leaving me behind. Walking quickly to catch up I found myself being drawn, like a fish on a hook, to question him for more details. After all, this was the first time that he had opened up and provided any detail into his family background or any hints as to what his life might have been like pre-eighteen. As “the archeologist” and his friend, I wanted to know more about the enigma he presented and this seemed like a good opportunity.

Over the following days I continued to question him directly and tried several tactics like sneaking comments into the conversation, using comparisons, and watching his reactions to things… but he managed to evade all of my strategies.

Eventually Neal did share the fact that his father had died in action as a hero when he was two. That saddened me as I had noticed his connection to father figures (particularly myself) and how he didn’t seem to have much luck with them in the past. His growing up without a father did help to explain why he needed the emotional connection to an older male while also explaining how a person like him could grow up learning the skills of a criminal without being stopped by a law enforcement father.

Through the course of the case I did notice some emotional scarring in Neal. For one, Neal doesn’t tend to react so strongly to other people’s choices, but when Wilson talked about his son, something in Neal exploded. Also, Neal had a slightly envious twitch when the Diplomat showed paternal protective affection for his son. Then there were a few sidelong glances sent my way that reinforced the growing realization that Neal worked with me and allowed me to keep him here (it certainly wasn’t the anklet holding him back) in order to follow me as a father figure, role model, and mentor of sorts. That growing understanding was a relief as it would make reforming him easier, but also more daunting because one misstep on my part could tear all of my efforts crashing down.

I tried to reach out to Neal and I was honest in telling him that I didn’t know how badly everything had messed with his head, but he shut me out by agreeing with me and refused to continue the conversation. Despite my efforts of support and my curiosity, Neal continued to hold an emotional distance with the whole touchy subjects of fathers.

Later, Neal gave me the next piece of information. His father was in fact a dirty cop who was still alive out there somewhere. It turned out that his mother had lied to him all of his growing up years in an effort to keep him from being disillusioned at such a young age.

Watching his reactions as he told me the truth about his father, I could see something of Danny in him. Not the young boy proud of his father, but more what that same young man would look like if that pride had been lost. That was when I saw him exhibit the small repressed feelings which made me think that maybe the confident confidence man was all just a show, that maybe somewhere behind all of that charm was a hurt little boy still looking for someone to make him believe that he was more than his father’s son, that he could achieve more value than just that of a criminal following in his father’s footsteps.

Those thoughts flashed through my head so quickly that they didn’t seem to be there. It was like he told me the truth, and I immediately said “You’re not him.” His response confirmed my suspicions and we briefly argued about it. I could tell that this wasn’t going to be an argument easily won, but I planned to whittle away at his defenses, to chip away at his long established logic, until he eventually learned that even if crime was a genetic trait carried in his blood, that it was also a choice that he could chose not to follow. There would never be an easy way around this subject, but I could always use the reality of his actions to prove my point, so I started with Chris and his father.

With that first stage of the battle begun, I decided to use his own tactics and distracted him from realizing what I was doing. Besides, I was genuinely curious if his mother wore hats as that would explain why Neal like his Fedoras so much…

It was later in the evening when Neal was at home and I was quietly reflecting on his revelation that a thought occurred to me. Could Neal possibly be Danny… could Danny be the person that Neal was before he turned eighteen while Neal was the man that he had become after being disillusioned about his father? That was when I remembered that Danny was determined to be a hero cop like his father but that he also had “other skills” to fall back on if he needed too. But if that theory was true, that would mean that the young man that I still secretly hoped to work with one day was my current partner and a… broken (?) piece of the boy I once met. The thought was heart wrenching in a way that took me by surprise. I didn’t want that for either of them so I decided to push the thought aside as being a random thought with my mind grasping at straws…

*******

After Neal got back from his Island adventures he had some serious explaining to do. He had revealed that Neal Caffrey wasn’t entirely his real name, there was this mysterious Ellen, and there was still a very large gap of what his life was like before he was eighteen.

In addition to working things through with Neal, I still had to face the consequences for my participation in chasing after Neal when I had been explicitly ordered not to and the week of an old unsolved caseresurfacing. (I had been working on it every five years for ten of the twenty years that it had been going on).

Unfortunately the consequences included me being reassigned to the cave under the supervision of Agent Patterson with his strict rules and difficult tasks. Like Hughes suggested, my plan was to not make waves and to keep my head down while getting the job done so that I could get back to my team as soon as possible.

On my first day, Neal was kind enough to join me for lunch and, even though I didn’t want his prison yard comparisons, his efforts to cheer me up were much appreciated. We didn’t get to start into our conversation, but I did get to tell him that we would be having that discussion soon.

The case was progressing nicely with Neal’s efforts to ensure that it kept going and his work to include me in the research. It didn’t take him long to get a suspect and I couldn’t help but agree to go along with Neal’s plan. As usual, Neal’s plan led to me being put in an interesting undercover role with my old alias while I purchased expensive sweats, played Squash for money, and played hot potato with the suspect’s phone. Luckily, it was worthwhile because Neal was able to find out the purpose behind the water truck as well as an idea of what the target was going to be. We continued to work on the case and Neal ensured that everything kept on rolling until we got an arrest.

That was when we finally got around to having our conversation. We were once again seated in the pick-nick area and I was able to direct the discussion towards finishing the promised conversation.

Neal started things off by informing me that his mother ‘checked out’ after his father left and that although she was physically present in his life she didn’t really take care of him. He continued by explaining how Ellen filled in the gaps and did her best to watch over him. Then he simply stopped and allowed me to make the connection for myself… he had grown up in witness protection!

Once again I found my mind filling in the blanks. Neal didn’t want to talk about his parents because the truth wouldn’t reflect well on them. He didn’t feel the need to rely on others for everything because he grew up taking care of himself and he was generally comfortable with recreating his identity because he was looking to define himself for who he was after growing up in a government created identity. Then Neal proceeded to tell me that his father was a murderer and I could help but feel cautious curiosity as to who he had killed.

Unable to answer my question, Neal continued to tell me that the Marshal’s took him, his mom, and Ellen to St. Louis where he grew up as Danny Brooks. He idolized his father and continues to feel that he followed in his footsteps because he is a criminal. We picked up another brief round of our conversation that he isn’t who he is because of genetics.

I couldn’t help but smirk to myself that Neal had another similarity to Danny. He also grew up in St. Louis with the name of Danny and I felt the sudden urge to ask him what his after school job was in high school. Since he continued to talk, I refrained from questioning him at the moment. As he described his childhood opinion of his father, I couldn’t help the gentle reaction to another comparison to Danny. It seemed like the more details that Neal gave of his past the more similar he got to Danny.

When he told me that he had learned the truth when he was eighteen,I was reminded of my previous thought… was Neal the person that Danny had become? We continued to talk about how Danny Brooks became Neal Caffrey and I found my connection drifting into the background only to be forgotten again.

*******

What finally caused me to make the connection was the sad state that we found Neal in after his abduction.

To be honest, the thought that Neal had run did cross my mind. After all, to his knowledge I was leaving with El to Washington DC and he was going to be stuck on the anklet for the rest of his sentence simply because he did such a good job. (Really, it was a lot like Kramer all over again where senior agents worked to keep Neal on anklet for as long as possible in order to succeed based on his skills).The piece of information that changed things was when a concerned Mozzie showed up after a few days of mysterious absence.

I was working at home, after a long day of trying to find Neal, only to discover the little guy banging on my door in a panic. It turned out that he had been arranging a plan that would allow for Neal to run, but that Neal hadn’t in fact run. This placed a whole new level of importance on finding Neal and luckily Mozzie also had some helpful information to that end too.

The new information showed that Neal had been being followed at least a time or two by unknown persons. My gut instinct was that these mysterious persons were perhaps connected to the mysterious persons that were behind hiring Rachel. They had collected a file on Neal that went all the way back to his childhood and Neal had been instrumental in ensuring that they never got the diamond… That has got to be the connection!

With a few quick calls I arranged for a meeting with Rachel in order to try to get as much information about who her bosses could be with the unfortunate leverage of Neal’s safety on the line. If anything was likely to get her to talk… knowing that Neal’s life likely depended on it was the best bet.

From there it was a flurry of work and a sleepless night later that we knew her bosses seemed to be connected to terrorists… great. (Here I’m being sarcastic because that meant that there could be all kinds of trouble before we would even have a chance at rescuing Neal).

We were shocked when the research and rescue proved to work out rather easily. I mean it isn’t every day that suddenly the CIA has all kinds of handy Intel on your situation and is willing to actually share it in order to rescue a former criminal… (In retrospect that was another clue towards other details to come later).

It was how we found Neal that upset me. You’d think that finding your best friend alive after being held captive and tortured for a few days would be better than the alternative… but it’s still upsetting because he was held captive and tortured. The surprising part about that was that he wasn’t actually being held in a cell or something, but rather he was roaming loose around the halls (having obviously escaped and worked to hinder their operations). While the other agents made the arrests, Diana and I checked Neal over only to find that he wasn’t exactly the most coherent person at the moment. Further inspection revealed a dart sticking out of his back that had obviously been the means of drugging him with something.

As expected in the situation, we made a trip to the hospital in order to confirm the content of the dartas well as getting Neal’s general health looked into before he could be released to go home.

While I was sitting with Neal he started muttering about those files that Rachel and her bosses had collected on him. Apparently they were more informative about Neal’s past than he wanted me to know about.

“I mean I do want you to know… but I don’t want to you to know… Do you know what I mean?”

The answer was no, not really, who could know what a person drugged, beaten, dehydrated, and sporting a head injury means?

We continued to have our odd discussion about him wanting me to know but not being able to tell me for some reason. At first I wasn’t too worried about Neal’s rambling because I was more focused on what the doctor was saying about his immediate health concerns, but when the doctor had finished, I paid more attention to what Neal was going on about.

It turned out that Neal felt that I would make a good father figure, role model, and mentor for a long time… longer than I had been chasing Neal Caffrey. I wanted to look further into those details but it wasn’t the time yet. There was still the case of Neal’s abduction to close on the work front and Neal’s recovery on the personal front to pay attention too. Investigating his rambling would just have to wait.

*******

Eventually, Neal was safely back at his apartment and working on desk duty while the case had been closed with a multiagency task force making quick work of it. It was finally time… I could take an entire weekend to delve into the mysteries that Neal had been eluding to for years, those inclinations that there was more to him than I was connecting, and why he did, but didn’t, want me to know what was in his files. Needless to say the friend and archeologist in me was going to have some fun settling my questions… if only it didn’t bring up more questions.

Arriving home on Friday night I didn’t even wait until after diner to begin collecting my research material. In no time I had a pile settled on the coffee table composed of my Caffrey Box, the files from Rachel, and the old photos from St. Louis that I had gotten from El. (Despite her curiosity, El continued to prepare dinner and figured that she would get involved after we had eaten).

Looking through the files I started with Neal’s birth and worked forwards. There were all kinds of little details that I really wanted to go through further, but nothing seemed to be what I was looking for. Then I eventually got up to Neal’s high school records and I found myself looking to see what his out of school information had to share. That was the time where Neal was making his life plans so I was curious how he prepared to live them out. What surprised me was when I randomly looked at his after school job his junior year… driving the tourist carriages around St. Louis! Seriously, Neal Caffrey just happened to be a Danny living in St. Louis, driving tourist carriages, the age of 17, and aspiring to be a cop… he was Danny!

To be sure, I pulled up the picture of Danny from our trip and compared them to the pictures of Danny Brooks in the files, they matched. Then I decided to compare those to the “Prom” picture that El had taken of Neal and I, again they matched. Finally another thought occurred to me… that Christmas card that Neal had given me in person while impersonating a delivery boy… Sure enough, it was a picture representing Neal taking El and I on that carriage ride all of those years ago.

That was where El found me, sitting there staring at all of the pictures depicting Neal’s life from birth to present.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” She asked allowing some of her curiosity to be satiated.

Beaming up at her I couldn’t suppress my excitement. “Yes, I found Danny.” I replied as I presented our picture of the three of us to her. While she looked at it fondly, I readied the “Prom” picture for her next perusal. When she looked up at me she took the other picture and compared them. After a few moments it was like watching the light bulb in her head come on as she lit up with the realization that the “little brother” she had connected to that day was in fact our friend now. She in turn beamed in excitement while I grinned and dialed Neal’s number.

“Dinner!” She orders before turning to set another place and finish her preparations.

I simply nodded in compliance as I had already planned that too.

It was a simple conversation really. “Hi Danny, yes I figured it out. Dinner, the table is set, see you in twenty.” I simply stated… or ordered really.

Laughing, Neal was rather amused and simply replied “Hmm, I haven’t seen you guys in a long time. It would be great to catch up.”

Amused, I shared in his laughter as the call disconnected.

Roughly twenty minutes later Neal showed up and we settled in for dinner. We kept things simple by talking about art, history, and law enforcement (mostly current work), but when dinner was over, it was time to dig into the purpose of this get together.

I started with the direct approach. “You didn’t let me connect the dots before because of Wit-Sec. Why did you continue to steer me away from figuring it out after I knew about Wit-Sec?”

Thinking for a moment, Neal decided to respond with, “I guess it was because it had been a secret for so long and it had really become a game for me. Give you nearly enough details to understand and then redirect you to keep you from figuring it out. Due to the Marshals, I couldn’t just come out and tell you, but even after you technically knew I was curious how long it would take you to figure it out.”

There was something more… something that he was hiding. “What are you hiding about your reasons, those are true, but there is more that you aren’t sharing.”

He gave me his _congratulations for figuring it out_ look, but he took a moment to decide what more to share. “On the personal front I guess I was upset about how you would think about me… and there were other circumstances that seem to be also melting away.” The last part was tacked on in surprise and relief.

Leaving the perspective part for later, I decided to ask into the other circumstances.

“I can’t answer that part… at least not yet. Let’s just say it’s like having the Marshals involved and not yet entirely permissive about sharing information.”

He was playing with me, and yet he was doing his usual telling me… without telling me thing. I hate it when he does that as it intrigues my curiosity, but I’m relieved that he is at least trying to explain things to me instead of lying to me.

Retracing my steps, I went back to the remark on my perspective of him. “Why are you so concerned about my personal opinion of you? I have known you as a criminal… for a more personal length of time that I have known you for anything else?”

He flinched at my words and seemed to be hurt by them. “Because you first knew me as a kid who was zealous of the law and eager to join the academy.” He looked away from me as he said this.

Trying to repair the damage with Neal, and assuage El’s glare. “Neal, I didn’t mean it like that. I believe that the reference may have slipped over the years that I think of you as the perfect criminal. You’re brilliant, creative, and careful of what crimes that you commit even if the effects sometimes elude you. Since working with you, I have been able to see that you are still zealous for justice, even if you means of going about it has changed,and you often have your heart in the right place even if your execution is flawed. I can’t judge you too harshly as I have never been put in the position where everything of my past turned out to be a lie and my very foundation was yanked from under my feet. You’re right in assuming that I’m not proud of everything that you have done, but I am proud in who you have become… you’re my partner, friend, and an extended member of this family.”

His shoulders loosened up and I watched some of the tension leave him. He was clearly relieved to hear that his reputation wasn’t too damaged in my eyes and I was glad that he still wanted to look up to me. Now that I knew who he really was, he felt even more like a little brother to me and that big brother protectiveness only seemed to increase… I had known and influenced him since he was seventeen. That brought another thought to mind. “By the way, why didn’t you fall back on those ‘other skills’ that you said you had… or is Neal Caffrey the answer?”

He looked pensive, like he wanted to answer that question but he couldn’t. “Well Peter… You aren’t going to like this. That is another one of those questions where I have given you the answer, but I can’t tell you the answer. However, no, the criminal aspects of Neal Caffrey aren’t the skills that I was refereeing too, rather the general art skills were involved, but not all inclusive.More of the true tale of who I am will have to wait until you make another connection… there are a number yet to go.”

That smarted, after all that we had been through he was still playing his games and hiding who he was. Every time I seem to feel closer to him, he shows that I’m not nearly as close as I think. I now knew that Danny did become Neal Caffrey and I do get to work with him, but I still have more to learn before I get to know everything… how many lives could one person have?

Seeing my frustration Neal sighed. “I have been waiting years in the hope that someday I could tell you all… I still can’t actually tell you anything. But, the thing is Peter, I already have told you everything. I’ll reiterate something for you. You know my entire life story and all of the main identities that who I am is based off of. The only things that you don’t know is how they connect, and how you have influenced me into being each one of them. A life time isn’t learned in a few years, but rather in a life time. I hope that whether here, in DC, or even on opposite sides of the Earth that you will be “here” long enough to put the pieces together.”

It was an invitation. That El and I would be in his life for as long as it took for me to put the pieces together and to understand all of the little implications of it all… a literal lifetime of work. Still, he was worth it, so without even thinking about it, El and I silently acquiesced to continue in the mystery until we knew the truth of who he was.

*******

The longer Peter and I worked together, the harder it got to keep my secret identities secret from him. We laughed, joked, and talked about nearly everything through those long stakeouts and frequent little chats. With so much conversation, things were bound to slip, and with such an intelligent friend, he was bound to figure everything out.

It was interesting to watch Peter collect the pieces though. During the Burma Diamondcase he was surprised to hear that my father had been a cop. Then as we progressed in rebuilding our friendship after the whole treasure fiasco it came out that I wasn’t exactly who I claimed to be. After returning from the island, I had lunch with Peter where I explained about my childhood in Wit-sec including the details of growing up in St. Louis. Finally, it was a mixture of those files and my big mouth that led him to connecting the dots. (He would have figured it out eventually but my drugged ramblings only made him more curious to discover the truth sooner).

Luckily Peter gave me twenty minutes to arrive at his place for dinner so I had a little time to warn the General that Rachel’s files had allowed Peter to connect the dots and he now knew that I was in fact Danny Brooks the carriage driver from his trip to St. Louis. I was relieved when the General decided that he made a good contact in the FBI and if he continued to figure out my identities he would have to sign clearance/confidentiality papers, but she wasn’t going to take any drastic actions… as long as he handled himself well that is. As usual though, there was a catch. Although it was now okay for Peter to discover my identities, I wasn’t allowed to help him out at all or I was going to be the one in trouble…

As expected, the evening was filled with its pleasant moments of comfortable friendships made deeper and its moments of frustrations as Peter and I battle over whether or not I would share as much information as we both wished. In the end, I extended the invitation to stick around and fit all of the pieces together, which Peter and El both decided that I was worth the frustration enough t

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for the reviews, kudos, follow, and favorite for the story as well as the follow for me as an author :D
> 
> A special thanks to those who have taken participation in my request for votes on my next post. A guest reviewed and requested for me to give more defined descriptions of the two stories so here is the introductions for each of the stories. The votes are tied up so far so please throw in your choice to break it over the next three weeks (as for the guest who made this request please let me know if you change your mind).
> 
> -"The Painting Project": Peter and El are trying to bring their trip home, but after some stressful cases Neal chooses to give them more than they bargained for. (Family/Friendship).
> 
> -"Neal What ?!": Seriously. Neal Caffrey White Collar con, thief, forger, and a legend around the world as well as a growing legendary consultant in the FBI had been reduced to a wriggly little hamster in a suit dancing around a box. Who wouldn't see the humor in that? (Humor/Angst).


	12. Introductions and Reveals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was a random lunch out where my two best friends accidentally met, and of course another identity was discovered for each of them.

*******

Armed with my new assurance that Neal was in fact Danny, there were some aspects in our relationship that changed. For one, Neal came over more often and he interacted with El in a more “little brotherly” role than he had ever held. Our conversations about law enforcement picked up my efforts to learn more about his knowledge as well as his perspective. (I started to notice that he had a more “law enforcement” frame of mind than I had previously thought). Finally, we became closer friends because we both knew about the length of our history… even though I was clueless as to the entire content.

The next point to change our relationship also correlated with my learning another identity when we happened to run into his old college roommate at lunch one day.

There was nothing special to the occasion to begin with. Neal and I were sitting in a simple (but Neal worthy) café for lunch when a surprised voice sounded out off to the side of us.

“Bryce?!”

Neal started and turned to see our visitor while I simply watched the interaction to see what I could garner from it. Observing the young man, I would describe him as being tall, fit, his curly hair giving him a youthful appearance, with brown eyes, and the way he looks at Neal is like he is seeing a ghost.

“Chuck!”

Neal is rather surprised as well but quickly looks pleased to see the man, even if he appears to be a little unsure of how the situation is going to go.

Picking up a bit of a smirk he continues “It appears to be time.”

That has the other guy and I both confused and we oddly respond in sync “Time for what?”

With a look that says he is going to enjoy what is to come, “First, a moment Chuck?”

As the man nods, Neal excuses himself and pulls the other man away for a private conversation. I watch as they step outside of the restaurant and duck off towards the alley way where there is less foot traffic of staff, customers, and random passersby. It doesn’t take too long before the two reenter the restaurant and Neal apologizes as he sits back down.For a moment I expect his friend to bid his goodbyes and leave, but he surprises me and pulls up another chair to join us.

While his friend gets situated, Neal smiles and he gestures between the two of us. “Chuck, Peter, the two best friends in my life finally meet.”

With an odd look in Neal’s directions, Chuck speaks to me. “I hope you don’t mind my joining you Agent Burke. Let’s just say that I heard a lot about you at one stage of our lives and I am curious now that I have the chance to meet you.” He seems genuinely open and honest, I think I’m going to like this friend better than most of the people that Neal has introduced me to or talked about.

“Hello, nice to meet you. It’s not a problem, and please call me Peter. I admit that you have me curious as well, especially since I don’t know if I have ever heard of you or not. You see Neal has a game where I have known him under several alias over the years and he can’t tell me who those people have been, I have to figure them all out for myself.” Describing Neal’s game to an old friend of his felt a little silly, but I was also hoping to see if I could garner any clues about why the game had to be played in the first place. Luckily, Chuck reacted to my statement with a comment to Neal.

“So she won’t let you tell him either.” There seemed to be bit of sad frustration in his words, like he felt sorry for Neal not being able to tell me and frustrated that this person made him keep secrets. Turning to me he continued. “You see agent Burke, I know some of the information that you seek, you know information that I would like to know, and then he has more secrets that neither of us know. It is easier for me to deal with because I know why the secrecy, it just annoys me because although neither of us can talk about it, he is one of my best friends and has been for a long time.”

I watched Neal in the peripheral and he seemed particularly surprised and pleased to hear that he was one of Chuck’s best friends. For a moment I wondered why Neal had said that I was the only person he trusted when he clearly trusted Chuck, but then I remembered that Chuck said neither of them could talk about their friendship. What kind of situation do you have to be in where you can’t talk about your friends?

As the silence drew on the question must have been written on my face because Chuck answered me. “Neal grew up in Wit-sec and my parents work for the government. I have gotten involved in the “family business” so to speak and Neal has been involved as well. Due to the secrecy of certain things, neither of us can talk about it, nor even acknowledge each other in many ways.”

That revelation surprised me and I turned to Neal. “You work for the government in more ways than just for the FBI?”

He looked abashed and yet there was almost a smirk to his expression. “That is what I meant when I said that the reason why I couldn’t tell you was kind of like having the Marshals involved and not yet willing to share information.”

Chuck perked up at that. “You mean that she might actually let you tell us things?”

Looking like Chuck should know the answer, Neal responded. “No. She said that she is okay with Peter finding things out and that he may have some forms to sign depending on how much he discovers, but that I can’t tell him anything or help him to figure it out in anyway. He has everything that he needs to put the general pieces together, but he understandably hasn’t so far. As for you, she doesn’t know anything about us randomly running into each other to have shared an opinion. I just know that her last orders were that I couldn’t contact you in anyway.”

That seemed to answer some of Chuck’s unasked questions which made him feel better, but it made me feel sadder that Neal had been unable to even contact someone who appeared to be a close friend. Since I now knew some basic details about why Neal had his secrets, I decided to delve more into the two’s relationship. “So, how did you two meet?”

Before Chuck could answer, Neal started laughing. At our questioning looks he simply gestured for us to continue.

Exchanging confused looks with me, Chuck decided to continue.“It was our freshman year and I was sitting on a bench working on my homework. Neal here was throwing a football around with another student when he noticed a C++ book in my pile and decided to pick up conversation with me. We talked, hit it off, and he offered to introduce me to my future girlfriend who was actually into nerds like me. He was my second best friend.” Turning to Neal. “Now I think that I am beginning to understand that I am your second best friend too. Good, because that means that you aren’t as alone as I thought.”

While Chuck had his side conversation with Neal,I was thinking through the meeting grounds for them. It was clearly a school, but was it a high school or college? “What state did you go to high school in Chuck?”If he answered Missouri then it was probably high school, but if not then it was a whole other piece of Neal’s life and another series of lies to sort through.

Perplexed, “California.” Chuck knew that I was looking for information, but he didn’t know what I was looking for.

Turning to Neal I gave him a look that said I knew he had lied to me. “How old was he when you met him?”

Neal knew where I was going and he nodded for Chuck to answer.

With a shrug, Chuck went along with the situation. “He was eighteen and before you ask it was at the very beginning of the year too.”

This time my conversation was for Neal. “So you didn’t run away and become a criminal when you found out the truth. Instead, you went off to college and somehow ended up working ‘in the family business’ in relation to the government with Chuck. I still want to know how you ended up as Neal Caffrey known as a White Collar con, thief, and forger, but I get the feeling that you are likely to inform me that that is something connected to some other name or some secret that I can’t know. Probably both.” I didn’t want to get lost down that trail so I turned back to Chuck. “What was he like in college?”

Seeing that I needed a distraction, Chuck decided to go along with it. “Well… he was known for his academics and did great in all of his classes. You probably didn’t know, but he got a full scholarship into college on his track skills so he spent a lot of time in training and hanging out with the jocks. By the looks of his suit it might not be so surprising that he was the classic gentleman who could sing, dance, fight with swords, and do amazing art. In our fraternity he was known for his ability to party and social skills with the ladies. For me he was the friend that kept me from being the awkward nerd at the parties, we studied together, he kept me from getting too stuck in my head when I thought too much about my family, he turned out to be my secret protector when things almost went insane, and I’m sure you know that you can’t really put all of his friend qualities into a list.”

Snorting, I could help but comment on a few things. “Well, after chasing him around the world for three years, his ability to run isn’t a surprise and I have seen him fight with swords, sing, dance, and paint. The social skills are good in conning too so they aren’t shocking either. There is one thing that I am curious about but I probably have no place in asking though.”

“Probably something between the family issues and the protector things I would assume… ask away agent Burke and I’ll say what I can.” They were the obvious choices.

“Admittedly, I am curious about both, but one thing that seems to be the most interesting at the moment is how he kept you from getting stuck in your head?” I don’t know why, but I wanted to know a little bit about how he interacts personally with Chuck.

“To answer that, I have to tell you a story. I told you that we studied together, well that is where it all started.” Then he went into story mode.

_“We had a huge test to study for and some of our fraternity brothers were a little more focused on the social event going on downstairs and around our building. There were plenty of drinks flowing, loud music, and lots of people around dancing and playing games while laughing and singing loudly. Really, there was too much going on for two people to quietly study up in their room so we had to find another location. It was my suggestion to go to the library as you have to be quiet, there is lots of study material at hand, and since everyone was partying elsewhere there was plenty of space to work in privacy._

_The library at our University is really big and the staff can only watch so much of it which makes it easy to virtually get lost up in the back where we got into a habit of going. We spent hours going through books, writing papers, and doing all of our paper and book assignments there._

_Our routine changed one night. Neal hear was bored again and I was stuck in my head thinking about my family after a call from my sister. I had told him the general story of my parent’s disappearances from my life so he knew what was running through my head. Luckily, he had a plan for just such a situation and I found myself being pelted by little plastic darts. When I looked up startled, he was blowing off the end of his toy gun like they do in movies before he looked over to where he had placed one for me. As I reached for the second gun I had to turn away, and when I looked back, he was gone._

_It was a little eerie at the time how his voice echoed around the room, but he instructed me that we were playing Gotcha, or Assassins as it is also called. The game was on and we played for quite a while before we were both ready to settle down for a break and get back to studying._

_From then on we always took a break to play around. We used to slide, sneak, track, and about everything else that you would expect. He was always better at playing it than me because he threw in flips and he had his secret hiding place for extra munitions._

_Then senior year came and our lives went in different directions for a while.”_

With the story over, Chuck turned to Neal with his request. “I want a rematch by the way. Things are more equal now than they were then.”

Neal got a grin that showed just how much he was looking forward to that. “You’re on. We’ll have to make plans.”

“So Neal, you carried on your practice to be cop into college by playing assassins with your room mate.” It was a statement looking for confirmation of what I was assuming. What I didn’t expect was Chuck’s reaction.

“You wanted to be a cop? In college you always talked about being an engineer?” He was rather surprised by that new information while Neal simply sat back and let us inform each other of who he is.

“I guess it’s my turn to tell a story. Based on your surprise I guess I need to go back and tell about how I first met him when he was seventeen and still living in Wit-Sec.” Chuck settled in for the story while Neal simply sat back with a relaxed expression on his face.

_“My wife, who was then my girlfriend, and I were on a short vacation to St. Louis. Since we were in the city we decided to go and see the Arch as well as some of the old down town shops._

_El was enthralled with the beautiful architecture, the historic quality, and the artistic craftsmanship that went into beautifying the area. The streets are a mix of cement and cobble stones with the buildings keeping some of their historic quality mixed with the newer additions._

_Personally, I was getting tired of watching my feet in an effort to avoid either of us tripping or falling on our faces as the cobble stones could be particularly hazardous._

_Luckily, a young man pulled up with a quaint tourist horse and carriage and offered to give us a ride. El loved the romance of the idea while I was relieved to get to look somewhere besides my feet. The kid gave us a ride to the Arch and all through the downtown area for the rest of the evening._

_While we road, we talked about a lot of things. El and he discussed the art and history of the area while bonding as pseudo brother and sister. Then when he mentioned some stories about the local law enforcement I joined the conversation more. It turned out that his father had been a cop who died a hero’s death when he was two and he had grown up aspiring to be a cop following in his father’s footsteps. He told us about his plans to join the academy when he came of age and I talked about my experiences in the FBI. Before the evening was up we shared some of our advice with him like he was our little brother we were looking out for, we took some pictures to remember the kid by, and then we went our separate ways as he went back to work while we went looking for dinner.”_

Neal was grinning at my referring to him as our little brother while Chuck was looking like he was trying to place his friend driving a horse and carriage.

“You keep referring to him as ‘kid,’ what was his name then?” Chuck asked curiously.

“I only learned that his name was Danny in that meeting, but I later learned that it was Danny Brooks after working with him for a few years. It wasn’t until recently that I learned that he is the same Danny.” He really did a good job of keeping his lives separate. While I was finishing my sentence I suddenly noticed that Chuck had a funny look on his face. “Are you okay Chuck?”

It was Neal who answered me. “Uh, Peter. Let’s just say that he has the information of my childhood in his head and like a computer pulling a file, his mind is currently pulling that information from its records. It’s not a normal ability, but it’s something that he and his father share. While I have gotten to know a lot of how it works, it isn’t something that any of us just share with others. He’s fine, but he may be a little dazed for a few seconds.”

That is weird. Like Neal said, Chuck was dazed but he didn’t seem to need to be told anything else about Neal’s history. “So… your father was a dirty cop who turned State’s evidence while his partner, you, and your mom went into Wit-Sec as the Brooks and your ‘aunt’ when you were three. Your real name is Neal George Bennett from DC. I suppose that some of Peter’s advice from when you were seventeen was what helped you deal with everything happening when you were eighteen?” That was something that I would like to know about now that he mentioned it.

“Yes. I briefly freaked out a little and felt like running away and doing something stupid. Running away and becoming Neal Caffrey is more of a ‘what might have been’ than the reality of the situation. Ellen was surprised when I settled down, but I remembered the Burkes’ advice to do the right thing, avoid temptation, and that I could succeed at anything. They had become the older siblings that I had never had and even after only a few hours they were role models in my life. Thinking over Ellen’s question of what I should do in my life, I remembered that I had just received an acceptance letter to Stanford. So I decided to go to college on my track scholarship and study to be an engineer.” Turning to me. “Those are some of those ‘other skills’ that I had referred to back then.”He seemed to be lost in the past as his eyes had a distant look but there was a relief in them as well as he was finally able to tell me that I had kept him from doing what I feared he had done.

There were a few moments of silence as Chuck reflected on learning Neal’s past, I reflected on the affect that I had without knowing it, and Neal reflected on what all had happened in his past.

Then Chuck decided that he needed to tell another story in order for us all to be distracted from our thoughts as we could do that later but we couldn’t always sit and chat.

_“College with Neal as your room mate gets interesting. For one, no one on campus decides that they want to try and cheat you at pool. Why not you might ask. Well, I think that it has something to do with Neal here paying anyone who dared back the hard way. He once told me that he used to get his lunch money by playing pool… I didn’t exactly believe him before but I think that was because I saw him for his Wit-Sec identity. Anyway, he used to take them on in a game and without cheating, he would take them to the cleaners. At least I think it was without cheating…”_

There was a brief intermission from the story as Neal glared at Chuck without heat before grinning as he understood that Chuck made his comment to get a reaction from him.

Grinning in return, Chuck continued.

_“Another thing that you probably would never guess about Neal… is that he is a complete and total nerd! That was why he knew enough about C++ to hold a conversation about programming which led to us discussing Zork. Needless to say we spent four years programming our own version of the game in between all night marathons of nerd movies, gaming sessions, and random conversations about what we would take with us on a deserted island in a sandwich. Pretty much, we spent our time studying, playing around, being fairly normal college students, and enjoying being nerds.”_

I could tell that Chuck was telling the truth, but there was more to it. “What changed things?”

Chuck looked surprised but Neal simply gave me a nod of kudos. “You know that I don’t like to work with anyone less than the best. He is the FBI version of you Chuck.”

It seemed like that was a high compliment for both of us in Neal’s eyes and I could tell that Chuck felt that way as well.

_“Do you remember that ‘family business’ that I told you about? Well junior year, Neal here caught the attention of the bosses and then senior year they came for me in a bad way. I was drafted for what could be summarized as a suicide mission. What saved my life was our friend’s skills. He made sure that the… document showing my skills was doubted for its accuracy. His actions took me off the radars of the government, military, and the enemy who were all going to force me to my death for the further advancement of their causes whether I wanted to or not._

_I know that he pretends to be a lot of people, some of them bad characters like a criminal, but when you don’t know why he is doing things it’s hard to understand what is actually going on. His actions in college and further domino effects where he was another person’s excuse made him look like the worst best friend who, to a college kid, had betrayed me in the ultimate form. I confronted him, but as he couldn’t tell me the truth he pushed me away with a snide comment that I brought everything on myself, and since I wasn’t talking to him after that he couldn’t defend himself from the accusations resulting from another’s actions. I hated him with a passion and for years he was the reason that I languished in mediocrity… or so I thought. Really, I just didn’t know what to do with myself or understand what he had done. Four years later he had discovered the secrets of my father and in an act of desperation he brought me into the ‘family business’ to pick up where he left off. He came back later and we worked together off and on before life repeated itself with me taking his place as he left the picture again until today.”_

Listening as Chuck relayed the details, in the most generalized form possible, I had a feeling that the act of desperation didn’t bode well for Neal and the fact that it had repeated in some way scared me even more. Neal and Chuck could both sense my worry and they both gave me reassuring looks like one would expect from two strong younger brothers… it didn’t exactly help me not to fear for either of them, but it did help me to feel like they had the strength to deal with whatever might happen.

In an effort to lighten the mood and to distract me, Chuck started to ask me questions about what it was like to work with Neal and what he did for us.

Apparently it was my turn to be the story teller again so Chuck settled in to listen while Neal sat back interested to hear my perspective of our work relationship.

_“Well, like I said earlier, I chased him around the world for three years before he walked into a trap. We went through the justice system and he went to super max for four years, his sentence was down to a few months when his girlfriend visited him in order to break up with him, and then he spent a month planning his escape before he simply walked out the front doors as a temporarily free man._

_I was working a case against “The Dutchman” and continuing to fail at catching him when one of my junior agents notified me of Neal’s escape and that I was requested to go after him again. Visiting the prison, I watched the surveillance records, checked the sign in sheet, and looked at his cell. He had pamphlets and his tools scattered around as a seemingly innocent compilation of items that correlated into a plan. From there it was a simple matter of going to Kate’s apartment where I found him lounging on the floor. We had a conversation where he identified the red thread on my shoulder as being a part of Canadian money, that nearly caused an international incident by the way, and he requested me to visit him in a week. I agreed and he requested that I pull him out on a work release so that he could look for Kate. Despite my misgivings, I agreed again and we began working together._

_We have had several cases ranging from simple mortgage fraud cases, to lost Nazi treasure, and personal ones involving family or old friends. I have been poisoned and in danger where he saved my life and he has been shot or nearly suffocated and trusted me to protect him. There have been times where we felt that we could trust each other with anything, and times where simply being in the same room is difficult. Still, through the ups and downs he has proven himself to be a good friend and sometimes he lets me know that I have succeeded to be a good friend to him despite my short falls._

_Over the years he has been sharing details of his life with me under various identities so that I have the pieces to tell his entire life story in general detail… The problem is that the puzzle is in pieces with some hidden behind others, others upside down so that I can’t see where they fit, and all of them mixed up. Fortunately he has extended the invitation for me to put the puzzle together no matter where life takes us and I have accepted the invitation no matter how frustrating it can be. I admit that the mystery of the puzzle is rather intriguing and I enjoy working to fit all of the pieces together, but it is still frustrating as I have everything in front of me and yet I can’t make full sense of it.”_

Chuck laughed gently. “It sounds a lot like working with him for me too. There are ups and downs, the secrets that you have to figure out, the work no matter how boring or fun, and most importantly there is the comradery that comes from getting to work with your best friend. Perhaps over time we’ll be able to continue utilizing our knowledge of various pieces of his life to fill each other in. He has shown trust in both of us and he apparently has no problem with us sitting here and talking about him as he has rather encouraged it. After all, she never said anything about us not being able to tell each other the details of who he is, only that he can’t tell us.”

There was one more question that was particularly bothering me. “When he told you about me before. What were the circumstances?” I wanted to know what character he was playing when he met me and told Chuck about me.

“Well… It was sophomore year and we were relaxing in our room at the fraternity after spring break. Since we hadn’t seen each other in a few weeks we decided to catch up and talk about our time with our families. I had gone home and slept on the couch in my sister’s apartment and spent some time hanging out with her and her boyfriend in addition to some serious game time with my other best friend. Neal here brought back pictures from a cross country road trip on his way home to Connecticut. While he was there, he spent some time with his parents and sister intertwined with enjoying some free hobby time. The setting for this conversation was with a six pack and a pizza as we chatted and played video games in sweat pants and our fraternity tees.”

For some reason this story sounded familiar and I thought back to a time several years ago. Bryce! He was a college student studying to be an engineer and he hoped to go into business with his best friend and roommate Chuck. El and I had literally run into him on the street of Washington DC and we spent the entire afternoon meandering around the monuments while talking to the kid who desired to be a cop so badly that it hurt, but was also repulsed at the very idea. It was funny that I hadn’t thought much about the circumstances of meeting him that time, rather I focused on what I liked about him, so it took me a while to make the connections to everything that was right in front of me. “You’re Bryce Larkin and we literally ran into each other in DC on your road trip crossed country as you headed home to some kind of cover family. We spent the entire afternoon meandering around the monuments as we discussed you future plans. You shared your current plans and desires to go into business with Chuck here, but you also shared how you still wanted to go into law enforcement so bad that it hurt while being completely repulsed by the idea so as to make it impossible. It would seem that you took my suggestions to heart in some way because according to what Chuck said earlier you ended up in government work. Later that evening you joined El and I for dinner at an Italian restaurant where you mentioned something about following the advice of some random strangers as well as your friend Chuck in order to deal with everything that you had gone through after your plans for the future had fallen through. We had taken pictures with you throughout the afternoon and they’ll have to join the Danny ones around the house now that I know another identity.” That all made me wonder how much he was actually a criminal or if the role was some kind of government sanctioned operation that he couldn’t tell me about. Whatever the case, I wasn’t going to be learning about it anytime soon if at all.

Ever the comedian, Neal had to put his hat on in order to doff it to me as a salute to my connecting another identity. “Congratulations Peter! I can finally quit lying about running away and turning into a criminal at eighteen. There are the government related aspects of this identity that I can’t share with you and neither can Chuck due to the confidentiality of the information, but the rest of Bryce is now pretty much fair game. I’m surprised that you remembered simple details like how I referenced our first meeting as you didn’t even make the connection that very night.”

Smirking at him, I couldn’t help but comment back. “I think that probably has something to do with you dangling that information in front of me like a carrot on a stick before you used the circumstances and words to whip my attention elsewhere while the carrot disappeared into the background. That’s not really a surprise as I expected as much. Some of your past work that makes me the most curious though is the stuff that you can’t talk about.”

Bringing us back to the present, Chuck reminds us that we had a time limit by announcing that he had some kind of a report that he had to get back and complete.

This motivated Neal and I to get our check too as we also needed to be getting back to the office before Jones and Diana sent out a search party. Since we had been enjoying the conversation so much we decided that Chuck would meet Neal and I at my house so that we could take the wives out to dinner and our entire little group could enjoy the conversation.

We exchanged business cards with Chuck containing our personal contact information in order to keep in touch after he went back to California. Then Chuck waived as he left calling his wife to inform her of our evening plans.

I called Elizabeth while Neal paid the bill. She was enthusiastic and couldn’t wait. It was also her idea to add the plan to take the Bartowski’s back to our place after dinner in order to pull the pictures of Neal’s past for Chuck and his wife to see. When the call ended I was texting the new addition to the plans to Chuck while I informed Neal to be prepared.

Laughing, “I wouldn’t expect anything less from Elizabeth. She is like the big sister who can’t wait to get to know my friends and share embarrassing stories and pictures. You do know that even though Chuck probably won’t have a lot of pictures to share tonight, that he will try to get us all to take a vacation out to California in the future where he can show you his collection of pictures?

There was nothing upsetting about that. “Perhaps El and I will have to look into taking some time off and seeing if your government friends can wrangle up a reason for you to accompany us to California? He seemed to be a little surprised at the way I shrugged the idea off as not being an issue while also coming up with a possible idea of how to follow through with it.

While we walked back to the office, I noticed how Neal seemed to get more relaxed with me the more of his identities that I uncovered. He also didn’t seem to be trying to keep the secrets so hard anymore either. It was like his boss giving permission for me to figure things out freed him in a way that he had never known before. Combine that with Chuck being back in the picture and Neal seemed to be practically dancing down the street. I was glad that things were looking up for him and I looked forward to the future, but I feared that those acts of desperation would still turn up to have had a bad effect on his life and worried about why he was playing a con when he was obviously so much more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the follow, reviews, and kudos :D
> 
> Another special thanks to those who have taken the time to vote for my next post :D To update you all on how that is going, "The Painting Project" is currently in the lead so cast your vote if you have an opinion. (See chapter 11 end notes for the choices and summaries). Also, a question for you all. Do you like having the choice of choosing what is to be posted next? I'm not too overly particular about what order they are posted in beyond mixing it up and not leaving older stories in my done folder forever.


	13. Emails Reveal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter was really curious and worried about my work history with the government… so he decided to ask another of my identities for information. Needless to say he figured it out.

*******

Neal and I had even more to talk about now and I played his game right back at him. He tried redirecting me from other pieces of his identities when I got too close, so I poked more into those details and refused to be redirected. Combine that with his more relaxed way of handling my inquiries and I was making progress.

Now that I knew about his college career we discussed how he used to sit in the back of his classrooms sketching or chatting with Chuck. We compared college stories as he was the nerdy frat boy while I was just a nerd. I had a new means of getting my technology issues taken care of as I was learning what all Neal could do. Then finally, I learned that Neal had supposedly gone to DC to be an accountant after he graduated from college to hide his work with the government.

Oddly enough, Neal wouldn’t tell me anything about Bryce after that. Apparently he joined the government sometime in college, but he didn’t go fully into active work until after he graduated. During the college years he had civilian based stories to share so he talked openly about them, after that his life became confidential so he tended to clam up about any details.

That brought us to talking a lot about our day in DC with the majority of our attention on our conversations and the results thereof. We discussed the history, jokes, teasing, and law enforcement much like we had that day, only this time, Neal wasn’t a troubled young adult. He freely laughed and joked and shared his objective opinions with me even though he was cautious not to give away exactly what means of employment he chose to go into with the government.

I remembered that I once told Neal that he was “Intelligent enough to be an intelligence officer” and I have to admit that a part of me fears that he followed my suggestion. Why? Because the intelligence world often involves a great deal of cloak and dagger like deception and danger. It would mean that the kid I have thought of like a little brother for several years went into a line of work where his friend could be his enemy and literally stab him in the back… and the worst part is that I’m the one who suggested it. But there is so much secrecy to his past of Bryce Larkin that the CIA is a very possible history for him. Hmm, perhaps I could ask Jayden what he knows about Bryce Larkin. Just because Neal and Chuck can’t tell me doesn’t mean that someone else can’t.

The problem is that Jayden isn’t always the fastest person to get back to me with answers as he is still an active agent roaming the world at the government’s bidding. He has kept in touch with me ever since we worked that case together nearly a decade ago, but there have been times where he takes a whole year or more to get back to me. I don’t know why and I haven’t asked him because I know that he can’t tell me, but it doesn’t stop me from being curious or vaguely concerned because a whole year is a long time.

Still, the more that I think about it the more I think that asking Jayden is my best bet as he would either know information or he would have the resources to find out. The only problem is that he might not tell me anything either, no matter how long it takes for him to get back to me. He is my last resort though as Neal and Chuck won’t talk, the team don’t know anything about Neal being anyone more than Neal and Danny, and I have poked around to see what I can find about Bryce Larkin myself to no avail. I mean I have really had no luck. It is like he told his boss that I knew about Bryce Larkin and suddenly his file disappeared from the system because I can’t find it anywhere yet alone see what’s in it. This mystery is something that I could see Neal laughing over at his desk below while he monitors my computer and messes with my efforts of searching by controlling my results… in fact that may be exactly what he is doing as he has been rather busy on his computer lately and he always seems rather smugly amused after one of my failed searches. Since I now know that he is an engineer and a rather accomplished hacker with government permission to mess with things, I wouldn’t put it past him.

Once the decision is made, the key is to get an email out to Jayden as soon as possible. After all, the sooner he gets the question the sooner he can provide answers. My message is simple and to the point. “What do you know about a government employee named Bryce Larkin?” That is all because I want to start out vague and see how he reacts. If he can’t tell me anything then maybe I can garner something out of what questions he asks to get to the point of what I would like to know. With the message put out into the internet world, it is out of my hands and all that I can do is sit back and wait.

******

I don’t know what is up with Neal, but he just gives me a sideways look as I pick him up for the day at work and he has a quiet air about him like he is rather amused about something. Does he know about my email? That is something that is private between Jayden and I so there is no possible way that he could know about it. Unless… he knows Jayden, he is monitoring my emails, or he is Jayden? No… it can’t be that. I mean, how many of those young men that I befriended could he turn out to be? The other two, no matter how unlikely, seem to be more likely than him turning out to be Jayden too. Then again, it could be more of a generalized assumption in relation to my inability to put the pieces together. Maybe he is amused by how long it is taking me. Or maybe I am simply reading too much into it all and he is enjoying watching me try to read everything about him and looking for clues in things that are no more than they seem. (Kind of like the prank that never came, only I’m looking for the clues that aren’t there).

Ughh, this is the part of the whole thing that drives me nuts and why I don’t like it when Neal is up to something. The games of outsmarting each other can be fun, but I prefer when it is on a smaller scale with the hope of an end in sight where we can get back to just being friends. This is like having to keep ahead of criminal (who might not be so criminal) Neal for the rest of my life, only he has told me every crime and I just have to put the pieces together… I hope El doesn’t get too frustrated with this as she was once rather jealous of the con who took so much of my time to catch. Then again, she is just as curious as I am since we have known each one of his previous ‘main identities’ according to him. Really, I need to take a break from this and focus on work as I am going to drive myself crazy if I keep obsessing over this.

When we get to work, Neal is still silently amused but he refuses to tell me what is so funny. We walk up to the office and we get to work on our cases like usual so I try to switch my focus to solving my pile.

The day passes quickly, and I work without success to keep myself from checking my email too often. Eventually the day ends and it’s time to drop Neal off and head home for the evening. It’s like he knows that I need a break because he hasn’t said or done anything all day besides quietly work at his desk and follow the routines that we have developed over the years.

For a few days we settle into this routine of general silence and everyone notices that there is something different. Diana and Jones have both asked me what Neal has done now, I tell them that he hasn’t done anything, but that we have a game going and I need a break. This peaks their curiosity, but my quiet look that says‘I am not going to answer’ has them studiously leaving my office with the plan to observe the game for themselves when it resumes.

It took three days for Jayden to get back to me, and he wasn’t very helpful. “He’s dead.” That was it. After waiting three days to see what he would have, and all he has to say is information that I know to be inaccurate (interesting and terrifying, but inaccurate all the same). So I responded. “Besides that. What do you know of his reputation for instance?” I now really wanted to know what Jayden had meant by telling me that Neal had died. Was it faked like his shark attack death was, or was it something more?

That evening I had new questions for Neal to fill the drive home. In fact I was so eager to get back into the game that I didn’t even let him buckle his seat belt before I let him have it. “So, what happened that Bryce would have a reputation for being dead? I know that you can’t tell me details, but tell me what you can because I really need to know what that was about!” There is anger to my voice because I know that something had to happen in order for him to have that kind of a reputation with the CIA.

He seemed a little remorseful about something, but he answered me quickly. “You’re right. I can’t tell you nearly so much as you would like to know, but the basics are that I was working on something with Chuck’s family when I was betrayed. His family and team were hurrying to back me up, but a person from the protection team shot me in the back and I was dragged out of the room while the others took care of the situation. The boss wanted me to remain ‘dead’ so no one, not even Chuck and his lot, got to know that I am actually alive. My record remains with me as deceased and I was put back to playing Caffrey the con.” Then he had a little twitch, like he had caught, as I did, the use of the little word ‘remains.’

“’Remains?’ What is that supposed to mean?” The panic didn’t go down in my voice, but rather up.

Now he really looked like he wished he could eat his words. “I’m sorry Peter. That wasn’t the best way to handle the subject. Yes… I was ‘killed’ before that too. Unfortunately what Chuck’s dad calls his third best creation tends to get me shot.

We had a large organization that worked inside of several agencies and they were composed of traitors. When I was sent to prison as Caffrey, I was actually ordered to let you catch me so that I could pretend to be a traitor and infiltrate this groupwhen they ‘recruited’ me. They ordered me to steal that something Chuck’s family protects and I did. Unfortunately one of the best snipers and assassins also happened to be protecting it. He shot me and I ‘died’ for the first time only to be revived in the ambulance.”

That really frustrates me. I now know that my best friend has been ‘killed’ twice protecting this ‘thing’ and he can’t tell me anything else about it. But it’s more than that. Also, now I know why I had that feeling when he left at the prison. It was a feeling of foreboding because I almost lost him twice, twice! “That explains why I felt like something bad was going to happen to you when you went to prison. I assume that both of those ‘deaths’ occurred then?” He simply nodded at me and I continued. This was something that would haunt my dreams, but there wasn’t anything else that he could talk about in relation to it.“What do you mean that you were ordered to ‘let’ me catch you? Like you simply walked into the trap and played your little game of ‘I Spy the FBI?’”

He busted up laughing at that but turned sheepish at my glare. “Yeah Peter. That is exactly what I did and it amused me that you actually guessed accurately. Since I had orders to allow myself to be captured, Mozzie told me that he had heard from anunreliable source that he could find Kate, and I knew that you would be behind the trap. It worked out perfectly and was rather funny as well because I played my ‘little game’ to know exactly what was going on. A compliment for you though, if I wasn’t an agent too or a really good criminal, I would have fallen for it and it would have been impossible for me to escape.” He sighed and I could see that he was building himself up for an emotional trip.“I don’t choose to continue to work with you just because you’re one of my best friends, but also because you’re one of the best agents that I have ever known and I trust you to have my back through anything. Even after being betrayed and everything, I can trust you and that is something that I can’t say for the majority of the agents that I have met and worked with. It is an honor to get to work with you for many reasons.”

I was emotionally wound up so it hurt to hear Neal be so amused about how he simply walked into my trap and played me into thinking that I had actually caught him. If I wasn’t so wound up he would have teased me out of my emotions until we were joking about the situation, but instead he softened the blow by adding a compliment in how well the trap was set. Then he further reached out to me by adding that he chose to work with me for our friendship and his respect for me as the agent that I am.

Which reminds me, he slipped. “’Agent too’ huh.”

There isn’t anything else to say at the moment. If I say that he is also my best friend and likely the best agent that I have known, it gets a bit too personal and I’m too wound up for that right now.

My words appear to take him by surprise. “Uhh, yeah. I wasn’t supposed to let that slip. Since the cat is out of the bag, I am a ‘Lead Agent in Charge’ of the project that I work with Chuck’s family.” Then he clammed up again.

“So Neal Caffrey the con is simply an undercover role of the Agent Bryce Larkin?” I had forgotten that he said he went ‘back to playing’ the role. “What about the crimes?”

He sat back in his seat while sitting slightly towards me in order to have this conversation. “Well, Neal is my real name as you know, and my agency identities are generally dead so that doesn’t leave me that many identities to fall back on. Neal Caffrey and one other identity have become my names with one carrying a badge and the other an anklet monitor. I wouldn’t entirely call Caffrey an undercover role. It is a role that has a purpose which needs to keep my agency affiliations secret and in that sense it is a cover, but it isn’t because Neal Caffrey is intended to remain as my public name even after everything is finished. As for the ‘crimes,’ I have to get permission through multiple agencies in order to make a move and there is always something behind the scenes going on. It’s not really my style to run around and randomly commit crimes because I want to achieve a goal.” He looked like he was relieved to tell me that the whole ‘criminal’ identity was in fact a role, and there was also some humor and a definite smirk as he joked about randomly committing crimes.

Then we found ourselves to be outside of his place and he left with a few last parting words. “I know that the knowledge that I was technically shot to death is going to be upsetting for you, give me a call if you need to… it doesn’t matter the time Peter.”

I nod at him and try to tell him before he leaves that he means a lot to me too. “Neal…” He stops and turns to hear what I have to say. “Thank you. You know that you are also my best friend and apparently the best agent that I have ever worked with… just… thank you.”

With a nod and a gentle smile, he leaves and the conversation ends like two brothers sharing a moment before going on with life.

As the days pass I continue to pull information out of Jayden but it is annoyingly like yanking teeth. He isn’t actually telling me anything and it continues to get on my nerves so I reach a point where I ask him why he can’t tell me anything.

Then he sends me a familiar message. “You see agent Burke, I know some of the information that you seek, you know information that I would like to know, and then he has more secrets that neither of us know. It is easier for me to deal with because I know why the secrecy, it just annoys me because although neither of us can talk about it, he is one of my best friends and has been for a long time.”

Seriously! He sends me the exact same words that Chuck had used when we met a few weeks ago. So I tell him that. “That sounds like Chuck and it doesn’t answer my question.” I hit send with extra force as he is seriously frustrating me.

To my surprise, I hear Neal laughing in the office bellow and turn to see that he is watching me from his desk. Something about that has me up and walking down to him before I really think through what I am suspecting. As I walk down, I can see that Neal is suddenly hiding whatever is on his computer and trying to play like he wasn’t doing anything but studiously working the file spread a crossed his desk.

Neal doesn’t seem to be the least bit surprised as I slide him over, chair and all, and look at his computer. I can’t believe it! The page that he is trying to hide is his email… and the very email that I just sent Jayden is open and glowing back at me. “My office” is my growled order to him while the rest of the office (who have stopped to watch) gets “Back to work everybody.”

I’m obviously not exactly happy (more surprised, amused, frustrated, and curious with frustrated dominating), but Neal practically dances up the stairs behind me muttering “It’s time” while the office tries to pretend that they aren’t watching.

When the door is shut and the blinds are closed, it is time to begin this discussion. “So you are Jayden and that is the mystery identity that carries a badge?”

He grins at me. “Yes. And it is also the last actual identity that I have played… there is one last nickname for me… but it isn’t an identity.”

Just like that the tension eases up considerably. I have put the pieces together. He was born Neal George Bennett in DC and went into Wit-Sec when he was three. There he grew up as Danny Brooks in St. Louis until he was eighteen. Then he picked up the Wit-Sec identity of Bryce Larkin who based out of Connecticut with a fake family while he went to college at Stanford and joined the CIA. Finally, he picked up several identities like Jayden Smith and Neal Caffrey for base identities with an unknown number of aliases. I was missing several smaller details, but I knew all of the overall pieces of his life… except one little nickname. Still, that was a vast improvement to feeling like I had countless names to learn. “Who would have thought… I wanted to work with three people as my partner and one perfect criminal… and they all turn out to be the same person who I am lucky enough to have as my partner and best friend.”

For a moment we simply bask in the knowledge that I know who he is and that the game is over. “Wait a second.” That rings a bell. “The game. Neal Caffrey. You asked me for permission to play Neal Caffrey with me as your FBI contact and you weren’t supposed to tell me because you’re involved in some kind of operation. So, how did I do?”

Suddenly Neal is rather contemplative. “Hmm, I don’t really know. I guess we’ll have to tell Elizabeth later and let her be the judge.”

“Later, why later?”

“Do you remember when we had lunch with Chuck and I said that you might have some forms to fill out depending on how much you put together?” I mentally face palm as I realize that I now have to fill out more paperwork.

“I figured out enough so now I have paperwork to fill out.” Perhaps that will allow me to figure out some new information about him.

Now he is all business. “Exactly. I need to call her and see where she wants to meet us. While I do that you might want to start closing down for the day as this is going to take a while.” To my surprise he pulls out his cell phone and dials the number without hiding anything. (Not like I know what number he dials or hear anything more than what he says).

Soon enough he is up and telling me that he is going to close down his work as he walks down to his desk. There is still a business like air to his posture, but he has loosened up so as to hide the situation from the rest of the office.

When I have finished I pick up my jacket and walk down to meet him at his desk as he is slipping on his jacket.

Jones approaches us and asks me if there is anything that I need him to do, and I surprise him with my answer. “Neal and I are just going to meet someone to settle some paperwork. I’m told that it is going to take a while so we closed down for the day. Since there aren’t any major cases to finish it will be fine if everyone just continues to work on their piles.”Jones nods curiously and walks back to his office while Diana looks like she will be up as soon as we leave to theorize the reasons for our behavior. The rest of the team continues on their piles of case files and I know that the oddity of me leaving early will join the gossip of the day.

With the office settled, Neal and I take off.

After we are safely away from the office, he shows me that he has my keys and I start asking him questions. It turns out that he is going to drive because we are going to a secret safe house where we are going to meet General Diane Beckman who just happens to be the director of the CIA and the NSA as well as a General in the Air Force with a former position of leading another agency on top of that. Suddenly I realize that Neal is not only an agent, but he seriously outranks me and anything that I expected to find about his position. Hmm, surprising but not a bad thing.

The General turns out to be a short woman with rusty red hair and a steely glare. She is all business as she pulls out form after form and asks for my signature while stating the importance of each detail and reinforcing the need for confidentiality. Occasionally she answers my questions or allows Neal to, but more often than not she is very short in her replies and doesn’t allow me to know too much of the technicalities.

When it is all signed and I carry a new clearance level to match my overwhelmed mind, I have learned a lot about Neal. He is a living legend and superspy who worked to protect something called the Intersect which is a computer database containing everything from undercover agents to nuclear codes (there is more but they seemed to think that the rest was beyond my need to know). It also turned out that each of Neal’s aliases were also responsible for closing cases with his ‘alleged’ crimes. They also shared that Jayden was Neal’s alias for his involvement in several more large cases. Finally, Neal Caffrey is going after the dirty cops behind his family’s disappearance into Wit-Sec, but no one would expect him to be such an agent because he does a very good job of playing the criminal.

As soon as the situation is taken care of, the General is a gust of air when she disappears as quickly as possible. I guess a busy leader in DC doesn’t have much time to spare.

It was time for Neal and me to inform El of at least the basics and let her decide who won on the game. Due to the secrecy of the conversation, we decide that it would be best to have the debate in the safety of my home with some take out so I arrange the evening with El on the phone while Neal drove to the restaurant. We have had these types of evenings enough times that Neal simply drives, places and picks up the order, and drives to my place while I enjoy a conversation with El on the phone.

Eventually we get to my place and El has everything taken care of so that we can simply serve up the food and start the discussion.

First, I started by explaining to El the ridiculously annoying conversations that I had been having with Jayden as I tried to find out more information about Bryce up to the point where I saw the email on his computer. Then I paused to let her figure it out for herself so that we could sit back and watch her reaction.

The look on her face was priceless as she realized (as I did) that Neal reading the email on his computer meant that he was Jayden. She was surprised and elated as that meant that Neal was all of the young men that we had befriended and cared about.

With the information generally out in the open, we continued in the conversation as we filled El in on the general details of meeting Neal’s boss and what all that meant for El and I having to keep even our limited knowledge secret from everyone (including the team).

Finally, Neal and I told El about our conversation the first time that we worked together and the game that he requested permission to play. As expected, it didn’t take El long to figure out that the International game of cat and mouse as well as the following role of Neal Caffrey and the mystery of his identities were all parts of that game. We finished catching her up to the situation by telling her that she was going to be the judge of who won the competition.

I tried to bribe her into voting for me by stating that my winning meant that Neal would have to take us out to dinner, but Neal countered my statement by saying that the deal was only that the loser had to take the winner out to dinner.   Then he made a motion for El to get to go along for dinner simply as the reward for listening to us try to outdo each other. Of course, that statement was followed by El’s and my agreeing to the suggestion. This led to Neal’s bribery that the motion was his idea so he should win which was accompanied by a charming smile and wink.

Elizabeth simply laughed at our antics and decided to think it all through on her own terms. “Well. First, the game was initially intended to be an international game of cat and mouse. Even if you were ordered to forfeit Neal, Peter won when he caught you and you went to prison. Second, you have been pulling your shenanigans at work as Caffrey, but how often does Peter beat you and prevent you from ‘allegedly’ committing a crime?

Neal looked rather sheepish so he made a comment. “Humm, yeah, about that. I may not end up committing the ‘alleged’ crimes… but I get the intended work done by some means while holding my cover as Neal to a point that you have each been shocked when you discovered a new identity. That’s not even mentioning that an entire FBI office doesn’t realize that I am a CIA agent as my other FBI bosses are based in DC.”

Nodding, El acknowledged that. “Okay, so keeping cover in a close working proximity to an entire office of FBI agents and even hiding from the ‘archeologist,’ who happens to be your boss and friend, is a point in your favor. But the third part that you mentioned was your secret identities. When Peter learned enough about you to have to sign the papers, I think that counts as him winning that challenge. So the final count is two to one… I’m sorry Neal, but I think that means that Peter wins.”

Despite my technical win, I decided to let Neal have his crowing rights as he did do a great job of playing his part while keeping me completely in the dark and Neal agreed to treat El and I to a nice dinner Saturday night. In the end we each got the part that was the most interesting to us.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for sharing your opinions on what I should post next. I'm glad that you like having a say and are willing to help me choose what to put up next :D (Reminder for those who have a preference, this story ends next week so check out chapter 11 for summaries and let me know before two Sundays from now when I'll be posting the next story) :D


	14. The Hero Unmasked

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Peter was in danger, I had to save him and as he lay there on the floor fighting for consciousness, I couldn't help but give him the clue that led him to learning that I was the mysterious man in black who has been protecting him.

*******

El and I were relieved to know that we no longer had to worry so much about Neal’s future in the FBI because it was dependent on his career in the CIA. The down side to that feeling was that it meant we were much more worried because the odds of him getting shot to death increased (I hadn’t told El that the reason Jayden hadn’t contacted me for so long was because he was “killed” before being held prisoner by the enemy for a year).

This caused another change in our relationship. Neal no longer tried to hide so much of what he did or why he did it from me because I had clearance to know. El worried a little less because she knew that if trouble came, Neal and I would put our skills together to have each other’s backs. And Neal, well he only had one “little nickname” left in secret so life was easier for him too.

The team on the other hand, they were very curious as they could tell that Neal and I had a new level to our relationship. Things were easy between us, there weren’t any efforts to try and keep secrets, we spent a lot of time hanging out outside of work, and Neal pulled fewer shenanigans… which made everyone else nervous.

Life was going good, and then like it always does, the trials came along to test us.

*******

There wasn’t much going on around the office so the agents were receptive to gossip. The junior agents had their eyes and ears out for information as to why things had changed again in Neal’s and my partnership. Jones and Diana felt comfortable taking a more… aggressive stance by trying tactics to question Neal and me in addition to their usual tag team means of monitoring us. In response to the efforts in the office, Neal checked in with Beckman in order to see what could be done about allowing Jones and Diana to know at least the basics of his being an agent and long term friend of mine. Despite her misgivings, the general decided that she could allow only Jones and Diana to be informed the minimum details as necessary.

Neal has decided to extend the game and requested that I play along with him. Instead of telling them, were going to continue like we didn’t have permission to share with them while enjoying their efforts to learn the answers to their questions.I have to say that it’s more fun being on Neal’s side of the secret keeping by playing the game to see how long we could last out against them than it was to be on their side trying to learn the secrets.

Then we got a new case that was specifically passed to us due to Neal’s presence and my new position.

Simon Ares, or rather, Agent Ares of the CIA swept into the building and left a trail of frost behind him. Really, he just walked in putting off an air that said he thought we were nothing more than ‘FBI agents’ and that it was an insult for some reason. Needless to say, an office full of FBI agents don’t really like people coming in and acting like everything that they do is of so little value as to be worthless so the air kind of chilled quickly.

The man walked onto the twenty-first floor and swept through the room before striding up to my office. He didn’t have much to say to me either, and that was even as the ranking agent. Our conversation consisted of the summary of the case, a file being dropped on my desk, and the promise that “We’ll get this case closed quickly so that we don’t have to work together any longer than we have to.” Before he simply swept back out of the office saying that he would be in touch with us this afternoon after he checked in with some of his sources.

Of course I called Neal up to my office as soon as he left so that I could try and get a better feel as to what was going on and how I needed to react to the situation. Obviously Mr. Sunshine wasn’t going to be much help on that front.

Apparently the case had White Collar connections through a collection of holographic art, engineering skills to create the art, and Intersect connections by how the information was being smuggled in the art. Neal was technically going to be the agent doing the work for the situation, but he had a cover to keep, so an agent further down the ranks was being allowed to take face. The thing was though, the guy didn’t know that he wasn’t actually the person working the case but rather the person being allowed to think that he was. (Unfortunately, he was also the type of agent to let the assumed power go to his head). I also learned that Neal’s old friend Chuck and his team would be lurking around in the shadows to help Neal keep his role while getting the job done. If there was a particularly dangerous or problematic situation that came up, then Neal would be allowed to reveal that he is agent Jayden.

My gut instinct was that this was going to get complicated!

When Neal and I had the information organized between the two of us, it was time to bring the team in on the situation. We called a team meeting in the conference room and began to fill them in, with me taking the lead.

“Okay people, we are doing a joint operation with the CIA on this one. The case involves fraudulent holographic art work that is being used to smuggle information. Our CIA contact is looking into how the perpetrators know about the method of smuggling the information in the picture and containing that situation as that is supposed to be highly classified information. We at the FBI are to stop the progress of the fraudulent art and treat it as a ‘normal’ case with the exception of the periodic check-ins and input from the CIA.”

Neal followed up with some more details about the suspects that we were going after.

“Eugene Durand and his wife Enid are engineers who decided that legal wasn’t their style.” Here he paused for a look at the team to keep their comments to themselves about the irony of his comment. “They started as small time hackers, brought in forging digital art and games,and have been moving up in the world. The word on the streets is that they recently hacked the CIA mainframe for information about a classified means of transferring data through encoded images. Then the image that we are working on hit the streets. Their reputation is to be ruthless and they have bought off several agents in multiple agencies in order to keep getting away with their crimes. Watch your backs and don’t necessarily trust anyone just because they wave a badge.”

Here one of the new guys had some questions so he made his voice heard. “Why do you get to be the one giving the information for this case and why are you telling everyone what to do like you’re some kind of agent in command?”

I answered the questions as the man had no respect for Neal. “For one, he has contacts that are providing some of the key information for this case which makes his help invaluable. And second, the person with the information knows how to handle the situation so he gets to have input in the orders on this one.”

The rookie shut up for the moment but we both knew that he wouldn’t stay quiet for long. Neal simply gave me a look that said we would have to keep an eye on him as he was making waves in a bad way.

Jones was assigned to look into how the Durands got the technical tools and Diana was to figure out how they had seen an art piece that wasn’t public yet. The rest of the team were assigned back up roles while Neal was going to be working with me to keep in touch with the CIA and his contacts.

Everyone split up to get to work on their tasks while Neal and I regrouped in my office to prepare for Agent Ares’ return.

When he did arrive, Ares spent most of the meeting telling us that he was making progress without telling us how, then he endeavored to learn as much as he could about our progress. Since we had only just gotten started, we didn’t have anything to share and it was a relief to get rid of him quickly. Felling like he was our justifiable superior, Ares strutted out of the room acting like he was going to solve the case single handedly.

Frowning at his back, Neal muttered “How in the world did he get the boss to allow him to be involved in the intersect project? If it was up to me he wouldn’t touch this project in his entire career. He is too arrogant and likely to be easily swayed.” Turning back to me, he had a more verbal comment. “Remember when I used to complain about horrible FBI agents? Please don’t return the favor by complaining about horrible CIA agents.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle and roll my eyes as I remembered the times when he complained about agents like Fowler. A part of me wanted to complain just to let him know what it felt like, but really, I didn’t know what to say about the agent that wasn’t already circulating the building anyway.

That was how our case continued. The team worked to find the required information, the rookie tried to bring up trouble in relation to Neal, Ares acted like he was the best agent around, and Jones and Diana continued try to solve their theories. Meanwhile, Neal and I worked with Chuck as his team to solve the case as a whole based on their information and what our team was compiling.

Eventually, the day came that we were making progress and moving into a position where we were about to make an arrest. After another team meeting to update our people, Neal and I again went up to my office to prepare for Agent Ares to descend upon us.

As expected, he walked in like he owned the place and demanded that Neal and I accompany him into the field.

We went to a warehouse and things really didn’t feel right to me. Neal tried to stick close to me but it appeared that the trap was meant for me as Ares took Neal to another room where he locked him in a closet. There were twenty guys around to make sure that Neal stayed put, I didn’t walk when they were finished with me, and that no one would be able to stop their plan before it was too late.

What no one expected was for Neal to have backup tailing us.

Chuck fought his way through one direction in order to get Neal released so that they could team up and protect me while Sarah and Casey took off on foot in pursuit of Agent Ares. They were all communicating back to their little guy, Morgan, in order to coordinate their maneuvers.

All I knew at the time was that two men were holding me while another two were hitting me from in front and behind. A few of my ribs were fractured and I would have some serious bruising to remember this by. Then the guys dropped me and reached for their guns when they realized that their guys were falling like wheat before a scythe as Neal and Chuck hit them in full combat modes. They made short work of the enemy and soon they were crouched around me as I lay on the floor fighting to keep consciousness.

“Come on Peter, it’s going to be okay. You’ve had worse and I got you through it then too so don’t worry about this.”

Neal was trying to keep me calm while his team called in an ambulance but his words reminded me of the last time that I ended up hurt in the field. I was abducted, severely injured, and rescued by Johnny Black. “You’re nickname… JB. Thanks.” It was hard to get the air out so I kept it short.

He knew that I meant thanks for everything as he smiled at me. “Just don’t make me do it too often is all that I ask.”

The ambulance arrived and Neal rode with me while the others took care of the scene. They had lost Ares, but the men were all still lying around unconscious.

At the hospital, I went through x-rays to confirm that my ribs were fractured before they were wrapped and the doctor gave me some prescription pain meds as well as an order to take some time off while I healed.

When Neal and I walked out, we met Chuck and his team sitting with El in the waiting room. El kissed me and gently hugged me to reassure herself that I was okay before we all got into the government issued SUVs waiting outside. Driving back to the office in order to close down my desk, I told El about what had happened and my learning that Neal was Johnny Black too. We were both relieved that the game was over as we knew all of his main identities as well as the general plot to his life’s story. Of course there would still be secrets to learn, aliases to meet, and details to discover in order to get to know the smaller facets of who he is, but then what else would we have to do in all of those conversations for the rest of our lives?

Back at the office we all went up to the office as a group because things had gone downhill enough for Neal to step up and lead the case for the agent that he actually is. The problem was that we still needed to keep the full truth of that hidden from the office as we might still have at least one mole in our team alone.

Walking onto our floor we were dismayed to see Agent Ares standing in the middle of the room directing my agents to do his bidding. He paled as he turned to discover that I had not only survived the attack, but that I was in good enough shape to walk into the room under my own volition.

Elizabeth and I moved to the side where Chuck stood protectively in front of us. Sarah backed him up while Casey moved to be ready to back Neal up as he confronted Ares with a growled “He’s mine.”

The office was silent and that was when I noticed that Hughes was standing with Jones and Diana off to the side watching the situation. Our rookie agent was standing next to Agent Ares like he was his second in command and the rest of the office was in the perspective background.

“Simon Ares. You are under arrest for treason and the attempted murder of Agent Burke.” While Neal continued to read the agent his rights the entire office got a look like they were somewhere between cheering Neal on and wanting to shut him up to keep him from incriminating himself. After all, to the others he appeared to be impersonating an agent.

“You have no right to arrest me Caffrey. You’re nothing more than a consulting informant, a criminal.” Ares sneered at him.

“I’ve had enough of you. _You’re_ under arrest Caffrey for impersonating an agent.” The rookie stepped forward pulling out his cuffs and reaching for Neal’s hands. When he did, some of the evidence from the case slipped out of his jacket and fell to the floor incriminating him for tampering with evidence.

Neal wasn’t daunted by two crooked agents as he had dealt with much worse in the past. He simply dodged the rookie’s attempts and cuffed him with his own cuffs before pushing him over to Jones for the FBI to process. Then when Ares decided he was going to put up a fight, Neal quickly out maneuvered him and pulled his own cuffs to take the man into custody before passing him to Casey for the CIA and NSA to process him.

Chuck whispered an aside to El and I pertaining to why Neal would be so willing to risk blowing such a long term cover. “He doesn’t like people trying to hurt his friends. When I was first in danger he took on the entire US Government and Military. This time he is taking on the risk of blowing his cover with the FBI and facing the wrath of four agencies as well as any ensuing dangers.”

Paying attention to the office again. I noticed how the entire room was looking at Neal like they had just seen him in a new light for the first time. Diana and Jones looked like they were trying to come up with a logical explanation, while the rest of the room was flabbergasted and confused.

Hughes on the other hand had the look that said the wheels were turning in his head before I could see the light bulb click on as he understood who Neal was. “You’re Jayden aren’t you Neal?”

“Yes Hughes.”

The conversations was detailed in just such a way that Hughes, El, Neal, and I were the only ones who understood what was being said. The rest of the room had never heard of Jayden in reference to Neal so they had no idea that he just openly admitted to being a CIA agent.

Agent Casey took Ares away with Jones and Diana who were handling our rookie. The rest of the agents were ordered to get their information together and prepare for the OPR to come check out the office. Chuck and Sarah began some of the work for getting their information compiled in order to close the case quickly.

With the office once again redirected with other tasks, Neal, Hughes, El, and I all went up to my office to talk as a group. When we were settled around with me seated in my chair, Neal watching over us, and the others seated on the other side of my desk, Neal began to give Hughes a general explanation.

“Agent Jayden Smith of the CIA is one of my alias with the company and I am sorry to say that I am Agent Ares superior. He was brought into the case as a face liaison in order for me to keep my cover. His actions however have forced me to turn my hand and take command after he tried to kill Peter and redirect the investigation in the wrong direction.”

Neal continued to tell Hughes the general gist of who he is even though he didn’t have the permission to do so and I could see what Chuck had told me. He is a straight laced agent when things are going in the right direction, but he isn’t afraid to take his own direction when he sees fit.

Hughes had a proud and amused expression on his face when he turned to me. “So you got to work with all of your friends after all as they turned out to be one person. I can see why you were so determined to work with him given the opportunity.” Then he turned back to Neal. “I wish that I had known that when I was your boss as that would have made life easier, but I’m glad that you are willing to share that information with me now. I know that you probably didn’t have the permission to do so, and you know that the information won’t go any further on my part.”

Nodding, Neal confirmed that he knew he could trust Hughes.

Once we finished with our conversation, Hughes got up to leave and told Neal how proud he was to learn that the kid had come to work with us after all, even if he couldn’t tell anyone. He parted by telling him that he had always liked Jayden and Johnny. To me, he said that he was glad that I had been able to be there for Neal when he needed someone, even if it was only by my words from previous meetings. Finally, he said “Thanks for everything JB” and winked as he turned to walk down the stairs.

Jones and Diana looked very perplexed as they were hovering around Diana’s desk in an effort to get their work done while being in a position to see what happened when Hughes left. The other personnel were more worried about the impending arrival of OPR to be overly interested in what was going on in my office.

Since I was stepping out of command for the remainder of the case, Neal was being put into a position of command. In order to fill the office in on what was about to transpire, Neal called the room to attention and stood by as I spoke to them.

“Listen up people. As you have learned, Neal wasn’t joking when he said that several agents have been paid off in respect to this case so people aren’t to be trusted just because they carry a badge. Due to recent circumstances, I am being removed from active duty on this case and Neal will be leading the remainder of the case. I know that this is unorthodox, but Neal has contact and past connections to those working the case on the CIA side so he has the best means of connecting the two groups effectively. The CIA has chosen to predominately be represented by a team of civilian contractors headed by Charles Carmichael, the former Director of the operation, and their counterpart NSA agent and colonel John Casey. Our team will reduce to only a few people consisting of Neal, Jones, and Diana. The rest of you will be working supportive positions when needed. Also, Jones, I’m sorry but I need you to handle the situation with OPR. Have Diana help you if needed.”

There was a hush throughout the room while this new was digested. Then Jones and Diana moved forward to accept the arrangement which was followed by the rest of the team. With Neal settled in as the lead for the rest of the case, El and I turned to head home only to be stopped by Chuck.

“Excuse me Agent Burke.   But I believe that you were the main target in the attack today. If you wouldn’t mind, I could arrange for you to stay in my mom’s safe house. She is on an assignment somewhere and I’ll send her notice of your presence. It would be the safest place to keep you until you’ve had time to heal.”

Before I could decline politely, Neal answered for us. “Thanks Chuck. They’ll take you up on your offer.” Then he turned to me and told me why I we were doing this. “Peter, I have dealt with more traitorous agents than I care to count and they always have a way of undermining the expected. If you two go home or get a hotel you’ll be sitting ducks. It doesn’t matter if you take every precaution because these people are trained to outdo your best. I’m not allowing you to take any risks, just like you would do to me, and since I worked with Chuck’s dad for more than four years I would assume that his mom would have the same over the top level of security. Their family will keep you safer than anyone else I know.”

El and I didn’t really have a choice when Neal put it that way so we went along with him and Chuck to get our things before going to this safe house.

As Neal was helping El and I get our things together, El decided to ask him a question that we had been wondering. “Why did you chose to work in New York when you obviously could have chosen any city in the world? For all of your talk about the glories of Paris, and other cities we have wondered why you didn’t pick any of them.”

Neal just smiled at us like it was obvious. “You know that my dad left the picture when I was three, he murdered Senator Pratt, and perhaps you didn’t know that he threatened me before I had him arrested.” He stopped to smirk at our shocked expressions as he hadn’t told us about James’ arrest before. “My mom checked out after everything, Ellen is dead, and I have been dead to Chuck and the others a couple of times. Really, there hasn’t been much of a support system for me through my life but you two have been there through everything whether you knew it or not. So I have my official work base as Bryce Larkin based in DC, but the rest of my bases are here in New York, because you are here.”

We hurried to finish packing before they drove us off to the safe house. When we arrived Chuck took us on the tour and helped us to get settled in.   Neal asked Chuck some questions and seemed impressed when Chuck said that his mom’s code name is Frost. Then with El and I situated comfortably, Neal and Chuck left with the promise to keep in touch so that we could be kept up to date on what was going on.

With nothing to do but set back and spend some quality time with El, the time seemed to move rather quickly and it didn’t take long for us to be back in our own home reclining on our own couch.

After the case was closed, Chuck and his team spent an evening with us as we talked about Neal and our various experiences of working with him. El and I enjoyed being able to spend time with Neal and his friends while he obviously enjoyed having the main people in his life mostly together and getting along.

*******

Walking back into the office, I found that Jones and Diana were practically going crazy. They really wanted to know what was going on with Neal and they were running out of patience. When I talked it over with Neal in my office he said that he planned on easing their stress by the end of the day, but he wanted to have one last bit of fun with them in the meanwhile.

Calling Jones and Diana in, Neal told them that he had Chuck’s computer on loan and that the two of them could use the advanced systems in it to try and figure out what was going on until the end of the day.

Looking like they were disappointed, but eager, the two took the opportunity and went to work. For the rest of the day the two could be seen huddled over the computer as they tried desperately to solve the long standing mystery. If they weren’t on the computer, they were running around collecting files and old data into Johnny Black, Neal Caffrey, and this mysterious Jayden as they were curious about all of these.

When the day ended, Neal called them up to my office where we sat on one side of the desk with the other two seated a crossed from us.

Jones and Diana sat together as they tried to figure out what they had discovered. Diana led in sharing her information.

“Well, we looked into Neal Caffrey first. You were born Neal Bennett and went into Wit-Sec as we had previously learned. However, at eighteen you didn’t run away and become Caffrey as you led us to believe. We don’t know where you went, until you later showed up when you were about twenty four. Then the back story of you being the criminal Caffrey was filled in. When you were twenty one, an identity called Jayden Smith showed up with your picture. He has popped up from time to time over the years in relation to the government and is marked as being some kind of hero. Then there is this Johnny Black that has shown up from time to time to protect Peter.” She was looking suspiciously at him.

Then Jones continued where she left off. “For a while now you and Peter have been acting like there is something going on and then every so often Peter acts like he has learned things about you because he changes how he reacts to you. We suspect that he has been finding out some of these details for himself and is relaxing as he learned that you aren’t such a criminal as we thought. The theory is that you are an agent undercover for someone and that you have been in the picture longer than we think. Perhaps you are even Johnny Black because Hughes called you JB when he left and thanked you for everything.”

Falling back on his theatrics like he did when I discovered various identities, Neal doffed his hat to them. “You’re correct. I first met Peter and Elizabeth when I was seventeen as Danny, I went another direction in life following their suggestions, at college I was recruited into government work, then I was put undercover for the assignment that Caffrey was created for, then eventually I was ‘killed’ in action and did some other work related to this last case. The first time that I was ‘Johnny Black’ I just happened to be walking by as things were getting dangerous so I helped out. Most of the other times also happened to be coincidences… except for the Pratt case and after Peter was abducted because I intentionally went looking for him. Currently, I am an active agent going after the corrupt cops that put my family in Wit-sec. It is a four agency task force consisting of my boss who is CIA/NSA, the FBI out of DC, and of course the Marshals. Like Peter, you two now get to sign some forms and be included in some of the secrets.”

It was rather amusing to watch the expressions flash a crossed their faces and I couldn’t help but be amused and ask if I had looked like that when I was learning the information. “Yes Peter, yes you did.”

Jones and Diana enjoyed watching us tease each other now that they knew who he actually was. Diana decided that the next case that we worked, we should play Neal’s game of I Spy the FBI and try to see if the FBI could outsmart the CIA.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has read the story and an extra special thanks to those who also took the time to review/comment, follow, leave kudos, and chosen to favorite/bookmark it. I hope you all have enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it and perhaps you'll continue to enjoy my work as there are more stories to come :D
> 
> Next week will be the "Painting Project" which is a White Collar only fic, but the following week I'll be right back over here in the crossover section with a short story called "Out of Control."
> 
> D. Rose: Thanks for your review! As you have read by now, you didn't miss the reveal for Johnny Black and no, if Peter didn't figure out about Johnny he would still win the bet as it was between him and Jayden while Johnny came into the picture later (however he wouldn't know everything about Neal) :D


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